A World Full of Strangers: Prelude
by Helena Mira
Summary: It is almost seven years after Renesmee was born and the Cullens are still in Forks so that she can be near Jacob. However, this is making the rest of them unhappy. Now she is older and they want move to a new place where no one knows how old they are. Will Renesmee come willingly? Will Jacob follow? Or will he try to keep her with him? This story is set in Forks before they leave.
1. Proposal

**A World Full of Strangers**

_Disclaimer: All the characters in the story are the property of Stephanie Meyer. I have borrowed them for my entertainment and (hopefully) your reading pleasure. I make no profit from their use._

**Time: Six and a Half Years after the end of **_**Breaking Dawn.**_

**Chapter 1: Proposal**

All of the Cullens except Renesmee are seated around the "dining" room table for a conference called by Carlisle to make a decision about the future of the coven.

"We've been in Forks now for ten years," declares Carlisle, stating the obvious. "We really can't stay here any longer unless those of us who wish to remain permanently, go into complete seclusion."

We all look at each other uncomfortably. Renesmee will turn seven in a month in human years, however she already looks as though she fourteen or fifteen. The rest of us all look far younger than our supposed ages. Only a fool would look at Carlisle and Esme and believe that they are forty. Edward, Alice, and I can just barely pass the twenty-five that we are now claiming, while Emmett, Jasper, and Rosalie look nowhere near twenty-six.

Because of this, several years ago, Jasper and Alice and Rosalie and Emmett began taking longer and longer trips. Rosalie hated being away from Renesmee, the child whose life she essentially saved, but Emmett was too restless to sit around Forks day after day hunting deer and other boring prey. And spending too much time around Forks was dangerous because anyone who had gone to high school with us looked older every year. Of course, we never aged. The differences were becoming more noticeable every year.

The time away from the world has had nearly no impact on Edward's and my lives. We have been so wrapped in each other, emotionally and physically, since I was transformed that we don't miss the company of others. And of course Renesmee has aged so quickly that we had to keep her out of the public eye as much as possible. She has never gone to school or even had friends her own age. We have taught her at home so well that she could probably have graduated from college by now.

But her interactions outside of the home have only been with Charlie and Sue, and occasional visits to the reservation. The children there, because of the tribe's own proximity to the supernatural world, accepted whatever the Elders told them about her rapid growth rate. But still, as she has continually outpaced her peers, her friendships never lasted long.

Carlisle gave up working in the hospital a couple of years ago after several of his colleagues started to make snide remarks about "plastic surgery." Esme has never had much interest in the world outside of home, but she has dreadfully missed her four children who are traveling now so much that they might as well be nomads. And they miss the family too.

Therefore, Carlisle has decided that it is time to make a decision regarding our present life situation and called everyone home. The other six were now all so unhappy that there was nothing else for it.

"I am proposing that we leave Forks and move to a small town outside of Whitehorse in the Yukon in northern Canada," he says. "I have done some research and there is a small high school in the city where you children could attend and a small regional hospital where I could work. The advantage would be winter days of only a few hours of dim sunlight. But even in the summer, the sun never rises very high in the sky."

"How young would we need to start out?" Rosalie groans. "Will we have to do three years of high school _again?"_

"Well, that would be the plan for you, Emmett, and Jasper," he replies. "Alice, Bella and Edward would be freshmen. If we do that, then we can probably squeeze out five years there. But because the human life cycle has extended itself so much in the last fifty years, it will probably be a century before we can return to Forks or somewhere else near there."

"How are we going to explain Bella?" asks Jasper, with a smirk that looked kind of like Emmett's. "She and Edward will never be able to keep their hands off of each other. There is no way they could be brother and sister. She certainly can't pass as a Hale."

"She would go as Bella Swan," says Carlisle. "She' could be another adopted or foster child. Thinking up a cover story won't be difficult."

"What about Renesmee?" Edward asks.

"The reason that we are holding this meeting without her, is that she is going to have to make a choice," he says. "She is at a point where she is old enough to decide whether she wants to come with us, if we decide to leave or stay here with Jacob. But we could get away with starting her off in middle school. Because of resemblance, she can easily pass as your little sister. Up there, no one will know that Bella once has dark brown eyes."

"She is _not _marrying Jacob at her age," says Edward definitively. "She may be physically full grown, but she does not have the maturity to manage that kind of a relationship. And while he is her best friend in the world, she does not view him as a potential mate. And I don't want to leave her here alone."

"Neither do I," say Rosalie and I together.

"She could also live with Charlie as his . . . niece maybe," Carlisle replies feebly. "And then marry Jacob when she is old enough."

"No!" shouts Edward vehemently.

"She is much too young," adds Rosalie with equal force. "Even though she only looks a couple of years younger than Alice, she still has a lot of growing up to do. Besides, how would her sudden appearance in town be explained? And at some point, someone will notice that she isn't aging either."

"If Jacob really wants to stay near her," I point out. "He can come with us. I don't know exactly how to explain _him _though. He looks older than any of us, including Esme, thanks to his wolf genes. And there's no way that humans will accept him as even a boyfriend of Renesmee. He looks at least ten years older than her."

"Yeah, but if he leaves the reservation, will he start to age?" asks Rosalie, who would be only too happy to leave Jacob behind.

"I've discussed the whole wolf phenomena with Billy Black and old Quil Ateara before he passed away. Unfortunately, the only written histories are those transcribed by Emily Uley, so there is no way to be sure," answers Carlisle. "But they seem to indicate that it doesn't matter if a werewolf lives on the reservation or not. As long as he keeps phasing, he remains the same age."

"So then we can bring him along as our pet dog," jokes Emmett.

Everyone stares at him.

"What?" he asks.

Jasper rolls his eyes.

"We have to discuss this seriously," says Carlisle, ignoring Emmett's poor taste. "If you recall, the last time that we talked about leaving, he took the very drastic measure of bringing Charlie out to the house the day after Bella was transformed. If she had not been the most self-controlled newborn in vampire history, it could easily have been a tragedy. You know that if he feels that he has to, he will take desperate measures to stay near Renesmee."

"So let his drastic measure be moving with _us_ this time," says Rosalie. "We've made enough compromises to keep Renesmee near him.

"Carlisle," says Esme. "You know how I feel about this. Renesmee needs to come with us. She is too young to make that choice on her own. And we still do not know at what point that she will stop visibly aging. When we visited Nahuel's sisters last year, they could hardly pass for sixteen. Even if Jacob never ages, he will always look at least ten years older than Renesmee."

"And those ten years," points out Edward. "Could appear to be the difference between statutory rape and marriage. But if we take Renesmee out of the equation, just for argument's sake, the issue is really only if we want to live as a family without completely isolating ourselves. If this is the case, then we have to move. At some point, Bella and I are going to have an interest in something other than each other."

Emmett opens his mouth, but I shut him down with a glare. We took _that _issue off the table seven years ago. Looking across the table at Esme, I see the longing in her eyes. I know that for the past year she has been desperately missing her four children and would do anything to bring them home. She also does not want to lose her only granddaughter.

Both Esme and Rosalie became deeply attached to Renesmee during her infancy. And because they were willing to stand by me when no one else would and protect her life, I have happily shared her with them. Whenever she calls Esme, Grandma, it brings her that same joy that I feel when she calls me, Momma. And aside from Edward and I, no family member is more special than her Auntie Rose.

When Jacob imprinted on Remesmee only hours after her birth, it had solved a world of problems with the Quileutes. The packs were even ready to sacrifice all of their lives to protect her from the Volturi. Throughout Renesmee's childhood, Jacob has been a daily visitor to the house.

However he wore out his welcome pretty quickly with the residents of the main house because he was constantly hovering while Renesmee had her lessons with Carlisle and the others. And his jealousy whenever she spent with Rosalie was very annoying. It appeared that he quickly forgot that without Rosalie, there would have been no Renesmee, not to mention all the disagreements that they had over that point. His initial offer to "share" actually meant on his terms. And he is _very _possessive. It took us several years to convince him to go back and finish high school.

Yet since then, because the house is so far away from town and the reservation, he has not developed any kind of career or even found employment. Officially, he still lives with Billy in their little house and they survive on Billy's disability checks. Until Esme finally put her foot down, she was sleeping on their couch very night.

Because our house is so small, Edward has refused to let him camp out there. I am on his side in that disagreement because I definitely do not want to give up our privacy to cater to his wolfy needs. Up until now, he has been content to run around the house in wolf form, guarding it. As if the two vampires inside are not perfectly capable of taking care of themselves and their child. A life without Jacob is beginning to look more appealing.

"I don't suppose that you can see anything, Alice," sighs Carlisle.

"You know that I'm blind where both Jacob and Renesmee are concerned," she says.

"What do you see for the rest of us?" asks Rosalie curiously. "Do we miss her?"

"Because no decision has been made to leave, I can't see that," she says. "But if you leave the decision to stay or go up to her, it will be too late by the time she makes it. Would you want to give her the choice and then rescind it if I see great pain for us?"

"I don't need Alice's vision to tell me that I would be miserable," says Rosalie emphatically. "And I am sure that at the very least, Edward, Bella, and Esme would agree with me."

"And if Rose is miserable," adds Emmett emphatically. "Then I will be too. Admit it, Carlisle. You would feel the same way about Esme."

"For once, Rosalie," replies Edward. "I have no problem with you speaking on my behalf."

Esme and I nod in agreement.

"Well, then I guess the next step is to make a decision," says Carlisle, moved by Esme's desire to keep the family together, including Renesmee. "But I don't want to be too hasty about anything. Let's sleep on it tonight and come back tomorrow and talk more and vote."

"Should we tell Renesmee?" I ask.

"No, you've all convinced me that she's not old enough to be a part of such a big decision," replies Carlisle. "In ten years or so, it will be more appropriate. But with her present level of very limited life experience, you are right, it will be up to us to decide for her."

"And Jacob?" asks Edward.

"Will have to make his own choices," says Carlisle. "But he won't play any games this time or take any more foolish risks. And he won't get any help from Charlie right now. The last time I spoke with him, Charlie was getting worried about the speed of Renesmee's growth and Bella's lack of aging. Remember, he still has to live his life in the human world and this is getting a little too weird for him.

"If even by accident he figures it out, the Volturi could be after him. He and Sue have been married now for five years and he is very happy and content. He also has realized that in the normal course of things, by now Bella would have gone away to college and started her own life outside of Forks anyway. I would also tell him that he and Sue have an open invitation to visit, at our expense, wherever we go."

"So then we meet here tomorrow?" asks Edward.

"Tomorrow," agrees Carlisle.


	2. Deliberations

**A World Full of Strangers**

_Disclaimer: All the characters in the story are the property of Stephanie Meyer. I have borrowed them for my entertainment and (hopefully) your reading pleasure. I make no profit from their use._

**Chapter 2: Deliberations**

As we walk home, at human pace, hand in hand, Edward and I discuss Carlisle's proposal. Of course he had been aware that Carlisle had been mulling it over for a few weeks. But he had respected Carlisle's right to contemplate the matter without any interference from the rest of us.

"It will be weird going to high school for a second time," I remark.

"You'll get used to it," he shrugs. "I can help you play the role the first time around. By the time you get to the fourth time or so, it becomes much easier. Arguably however, it also gets more boring."

"How many times have you gone to high school?" I ask curiously.

"In the past hundred years?" he says. "Oh, about twenty or so, I've lost track. I haven't always played a high school student. Sometimes I've gone to college. College is harder though because the limit is three or four years and move on. It's difficult for me to pass as anything older than twenty-one."

"Well, hopefully we will have all the same classes," I say wistfully.

"It would probably be better if we didn't, at least for the first year," he replies. "You are going to need to remember at all times that you are my foster sister and not my wife. But it will be even harder in a year or two when Renesmee joins us in high school, especially for her."

"Because she will be your sister?" I say. "That might not be so hard."

"It's not the family relationships that will be so hard," he says. "She hasn't spent very much time with humans at all. And the deception that she has had to practice is almost nothing. In fact it's been mostly along the lines of withholding information, rather than outright lying. And she can't touch anyone else's face.

But I am going to have to get used to hearing all those boys drooling over her in their thoughts, not that they won't be drooling over you too. It's just that I already know that you are perfectly capable of rebuffing persistent suitors. I'm glad that I can pass as her blood relative. It will give me a better excuse when I go into protective mode."

"As if you will be the only one," I say rolling my eyes.

"Her big 'sister' Rosalie is potentially a bigger problem," he agrees. "But at least she can't read thoughts."

"Well, at least Renesmee is used to boundaries with Charlie and the Quileutes," I reply. "And at least her skin is closer to human temperature. We still won't want any school nurses putting any thermometers in her mouth. And she can eat human food."

"But she is going to have to pretend that she only knows a fraction of what she does know," he says. "And sometimes that's the hardest."

"You seem pretty sure that we will be moving," I say.

"There isn't a single person who was sitting in that room who is not ready to move tomorrow," he replies. "In fact if it wasn't for the need to say goodbye to Charlie, then we probably would move tomorrow."

"Why did Carlisle begin by claiming that Renesmee should have a choice?" I ask.

"He feels sorry for Jacob," he says simply. "The whole imprinting thing has been a very interesting line of research for him. And he probably knows more about it than the Quileutes themselves do now. But he knows that our reasons for _not _giving her a choice are all sound. And he will never go against Esme."

"Esme would really be that torn up?" I ask.

"You have no idea," he says. "Of the difference that Renesmee has made to her. Except for me, Esme maintains the strongest parent-child bond to Renesmee. Rosalie is the same. Because you have been so generous in allowing them to take part in raising our daughter, they have both become much happier. Rosalie no longer has any regrets about the choice that Carlisle made for her."

"I'm glad about that," I say quietly. "I guess that I understand better now why Jacob's imprinting has been such a touchy subject with them."

"They aren't just bothered by the wet dog smell and the need to keep all that human food on hand," he admits. "They have only been as nice to him as they have been for your sake, even Esme."

"Do you think that Jacob will follow us?" I ask.

"He'll fight us leaving first, not literally, but figuratively," he grimaces. "And he won't fight fair. His first line of attack is going to be through Renesmee. But I don't think that he can win that way."

"I thought that imprinting meant that the girl could not resist," I say puzzled.

"Renesmee is not a Quileute," he explains. "No wolf has ever imprinted on an outsider before, so this is a whole new paradigm. Renesmee is part of a coven, which is much more tightly bond in some ways than a human family. Because we never age, there is no sense of someone growing up and going off on their own.

"And we are one of the most powerfully connected covens that we know of in the world. We are probably more deeply connected than Tanya's family. And without Chelsea, there is no way that the Volturi would live together so peacefully."

"What makes us different from Tanya's coven?" I ask.

"With the exception of Alice and Jasper," he says. "We are all tied together by venom and in the case of Renesmee, by blood. The only thing that _might _cause Renesmee to leave us is if she thought that Jacob could be her mate. The mate to mate bond is the most powerful of all."

"But she doesn't feel that way about him," I finish.

"She can't because she's too young," he says. "Physically, she is fifteen. Emotionally, she's closer to ten. She's more mature than the seven-year old that she really is, but not even an adolescent yet. I have to admit, that I've been paying closer attention to the way that human children think recently.

"I wanted to know what the differential might be between physical and emotional development. All you have to do is speak with her for a few minutes, and you know that the intellectual difference is about the size of the Grand Canyon. That's one of the reasons that we've been visiting those dreary malls. Carlisle suggested it so that we would have something to measure Renesmee's emotional development against."

"But if he knows this, then how could he even suggest that she stay here?" I ask.

"He was really thinking of the Charlie option," he says. "But it wouldn't work unless Jacob moved in with him anyway. But looking further down the road, how does Jacob plan to support himself once Billy passes away? And what kind of a life would Renesmee have on the reservation? She would be trapped there, just as we all are here.

"And the reservation is not exactly the most intellectually stimulating environment. Her mental faculties surpassed Jacob's long ago. He needs to try harder to keep up with her, or sooner or later, no matter how great his devotion is, she will get bored with him. But I suspect that he was never much of a student anyway."

"And despite how he feels about Jacob's feelings, Carlisle is eager to move on for his own sake," I say.

"Yes, Carlisle grows unhappier every month that passes that he has to be away from working as a doctor," he says. "The only way for him to practice medicine is among humans. And from what he has discovered about Whitehorse, a doctor with his level of skill and expertise would be greatly appreciated."

"But how much will it hurt Renesmee to be away from Jacob?" I persist.

"Less than it will hurt him. Jacob is neither her family nor her mate," he replies. "Carlisle has tried to discover what would happen to the object of imprinting if they are separated from the imprinting wolf."

"And?"

"The only instances that he found were cases where the imprinting wolf died first," he says. "In the beginning, the widows were utterly devastated, but in time they dealt with it. But once again it is difficult to tell because being that _they _were old, they didn't survive their husbands for a very long time . . . "

Edward stops speaking mid-sentence and I know that Renesmee must be close by. She had gone out earlier to run (literally) to Charlie's place for some Grandpa time. I believe that Jacob also planned to be there.

"Is he with her?" I ask.

"No, she's alone," he replies. "She's thinking about how happy she is that everyone is home together. She's thinking of a new piano piece that she wants to play for Rose."

"Nothing about Jacob?"

"Only in the back of her mind," he says and grimaces. "He promised to teach her how to ride _your _old motorcycle."

"Over my pile of ashes," I mutter, borrowing one of Rosalie's old phrases.

"No problem," he grins. "They don't give driver's licenses to seven-year olds."

I roll my eyes. According to Renesmee's "birth certificate" that was forged by J. Jenks years ago, she should be about eleven. However Jacob was driving before he was of legal age.

"Hi Momma! Hi Daddy!" calls out Renesmee happily as she walks into the house.

She is so cheerful that I am glad that she doesn't know anything about the family conference. That would spoil her good mood quickly enough. I will never get used to how beautiful she looks. Her pale skin has a faint rosy cast that makes it glow. Her eyes are an exact copy of my own former chocolate brown eyes. Her long curls shine with a rich bronze color, the same as Edward's. and of course her lovely facial features are all Edward.

She is lithe and slender. I have always been sorry that she could not take dance lessons. Carlisle _believes _that she may have reached her full height, but she only about five feet one inch tall, three inches shorter than me.

While children are usually about half way between their parents height, which would give her another seven inches or so to grow, he also told us that there may be a height gene somewhere back in either of our family histories that would account for the difference. And she still has a good three inches over Alice. It would not be impossible for them to be sisters.

"May I go over to see Auntie Rose and everyone now?" she asks now. "Aunt Alice promised to do my nails."

At Carlisle's request, we had encouraged her to go over to see Charlie earlier, so that we could talk privately.

"Of course, honey," says Edward. "I believe that they are waiting for you right now as we speak."

Renesmee gives us a brilliant smile.

"Aren't the clothes that Aunt Alice brought for me from Paris awesome?" she asks for the tenth time. "I just wish that I had somewhere to wear them."

"You can wear them when you visit Grandpa or Jacob," I suggest.

"I know," she sighs. "I just feel bad because the kids on the reservation don't have nice things the way that I do."

"I'm happy that you are such a compassionate soul," says Edward proudly. "Your Grandma Esme has taught you well."

"And I'm glad that I've never had to deal with the clutter that all of the gifts that your aunts and uncles keep bringing you would create in the house," I add. "Think of all the lovely things that you've given them over the years when you outgrew with them. Sue and Billy have told us many times, how much the children appreciate your generosity."

She gives us another little smile.

"I want to go now," she says. "Will you be coming over too?"

"In a bit, dear," I say.

After she leaves, I turn back to Edward and ask, "What was she thinking?"

"She was wishing that she had friends other than Jacob," he replies. "It's funny. She's different from Claire in that. Claire is completely content that Quil is her best friend and that she spends so much time with him. But then of course, Claire goes to school and has friends there. And Quil has a good job in Hoquiam working for a landscaper."

"You can't help harking back on that unemployment issue, can you? Much as I like Jacob," I admit. "I know how I am going to vote tomorrow."

"Don't feel bad for Jacob," he says. "If he follows us and Renesmee is in school all day and has homework, maybe he _will_ finally get a job. It would do him good at any rate."

"He might run around the school all day," I suggest. "In his protective wolf mode."

"Or not. If that's the case, he likely to get shot," retorts Edward. "He won't be in Forks anymore. When they see wolves in northern Canada, especially enormous ones, they shoot them. No one up there is likely to consider him as a protector."

Despite her desire to get out in the world and meet people, I still don't think that Renesmee will give up Jacob so easily. But this time, it's going to have to be Jacob who has to choose. There is so much of life that Renesmee has yet to experience. And bright and inquisitive as she is, I doubt that she will be satisfied with life on the reservation. It is time for her to enter the wider world.


	3. The Vote

**A World Full of Strangers**

_Disclaimer: All the characters in the story are the property of Stephanie Meyer. I have borrowed them for my entertainment and (hopefully) your reading pleasure. I make no profit from their use._

**Chapter 3: The Vote**

We are all sitting around the same table as yesterday. Each of us has had the chance to discuss the issue with our mates. Since none of us will separate from our other halves, it is logical that we vote in pairs. Carlisle speaks first on behalf of Esme and himself. Each couple will speak before we officially vote.

"We are in favor of the move," he says simply. "I want to go back to work and Esme wants her family back. I have made some initial inquiries and the hospital in Whitehorse is eager to take me on. Presently, if the residents of the city need any kind of specialty surgery, they have to wait for a visiting specialty surgeon. Their technology situation isn't too bad, but we can improve on it."

"And I have been exploring the housing situation on the Internet," continues Esme. "There are several good possibilities outside the city. One of them has several wings that would give us more privacy from each other. The population is sparse, but the roads aren't bad. The way that we drive, we could easily live fifty miles out and be in town in less than a half hour."

"I know Bella's going to vote for that one," comments Emmett suggestively. "We all know how she _loves _her privacy with Edward."

Edward and I glare at him.

He smiles cheerfully and asks, "What?"

"Just get on with it," says Carlisle, rolling his eyes. "We all know that Emmett and Rosalie want _their _privacy as much as the rest of us."

We all look at him in surprise. Carlisle usually doesn't get mixed up in these sibling brawls.

"Well, I've checked out the hunting possibilities," Emmett continues. "And they look very good. There's lots of everything. There aren't as many humans hunting as there are down here, so there will be almost no impact on the environment, even with eight and a half of us hunting."

Everyone laughs at the way he counts Renesmee as a half. As she has grown older her diet has shifted more towards human food.

"I just want to come back home," adds Rosalie. "I miss everyone. Okay, I admit it, Renesmee more than anyone else. But you all know what she means to me. I will even go through another three years of high school if it means that we can all live together again."

"Jasper?" asks Carlisle.

"It's always easier for me when we are settled," he explains. "Traveling means spending more time among humans that I don't know. It's easier to stick to the diet if I have more people around me for encouragement. And I would be happy to live farther north."

"Where Maria can't find you," comments Emmett.

Maria had actually visited us looking for Jasper a couple of years ago. Luckily, he was away at the time so it wasn't a long visit. She had not changed at all, so we kept Renesmee completely away from her, just in case. In the end, Edward drove her out to Montana before she got thirsty enough to want to hunt in the area. None of us would be sorry if we never saw her again.

"Well," says Alice. "As all of you have been making up your minds, I am getting a better sense of the future. Right now I can see all of us living very happily in an extremely cold place. The temperatures up there seem to be in the same range, if not colder, then where the Denalis live. And it's a relatively short distance away from them over the Al-Can."

"The what?" Emmett asks.

"The Alaska-Canadian highway," explains Edward. "It begins in Dawson City, BC and ends in Fairbanks. Bella and I have discussed this at length and we are also in favor of the move. We want Renesmee to have a chance to go to school and have a shot at making friends in her own age range.

"She hasn't spent a lot of time with humans. We will have to be very careful to prepare her, but Whitehorse is so isolated that even if she makes a mistake, the chances that the Volturi would hear about it are very small."

"Very," agrees Alice. "They stopped watching us so closely about two years ago. And once in northern Canada, we could easily move to Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories if we needed to. It's even more isolated."

"Which leaves the Jacob issue," I say. "I can't even begin to think what he will do. I suspect that he will first try to get us to change our minds. And when we don't, he will try to go through Renesmee to get at us. That's why we have to tell her first and convince her that this is the best thing for all of us."

"Do you think that he will actually want to come?" asks Emmett. "Isn't he, like, tied to the reservation or something?"

"Technically," answers Edward smoothly. "He should be the single Alpha of a single pack. Ephraim was the last chief. Billy acts as the _de facto _chief now. As Alpha, Sam could claim the title but I don't think that he wants to push his luck. There are still some traditional Quileutes who think that Jacob should be the Alpha and therefore the chief because it is his birthright."

"I've never quite understood why he threw that away," muses Carlisle.

"It was probably my fault," I admit. "He first phased later than he should have because he was my friend. Then he started to break the wolf pack rules to be with me. He told me once that he didn't want to be a werewolf, let alone the Alpha. But he can't seem to get away from it."

"The individual wolves have a different sense of connection to the whole pack than we do to the coven," explains Edward. "Their ties are a part of their identity. And they don't have the same level of free will that we do. Sam was deeply resentful when Alice and Jasper left, even though he discovered later that was a ruse.

"He views Carlisle is a kind of Alpha. And the idea that they would have subverted his will in that way was incomprehensible. And he has the power to give a mandate that the other wolves must obey. Jacob only escaped from Sam's pack because he was the true Alpha. Then, unwittingly, he ended up Alpha of his own pack when Seth, Leah, Quil, and Embry followed him. If Jacob ever chooses to claim his birthright, Sam wouldn't have a choice he would have to give it up."

"It was very interesting out on the battlefield when were fighting against the Volturi together," I then add. "I discovered that when Sam was behind my shield, I felt all the life forces of all the other wolves in the pack, even if they weren't geographically, so to speak, under the shield. That's how tightly their minds are bound to the leader."

"You never told me that," Carlisle mildly scolds me.

"You never asked," I shrug. "I haven't had to use the shield since, so there was no reason to discuss it."

"And after the battle I was so caught up in my discussions with Nahuel and Huilen that I didn't think to ask," he says almost regretfully.

"You must be slipping in your old age," jokes Emmett.

"He's sharper on a bad day than you are on a good day," replies Edward without rancor.

Carlisle sighs. Can we ever have a conference without there being at least a dozen tangents?

"Back to the main question," he says. "It is time to make our decision. We will only leave if the vote is unanimous. Emmett and Rosalie?"

"Yes," replies Rosalie emphatically.

"Jasper and Alice?"

"Yes," says Jasper.

"Bella and Edward?"

"Yes," we say together.

Carlisle looks at Esme, who smiles.

"Yes," she says. "It looks like we need to make preparations to move. We want to get there before the school year begins."

"How and when do we tell Remesmee?" asks Rosalie.

"I think that we should tell her as a group, and very gently," replies Carlisle. "Because it was a group decision, unanimously agreed to by the coven. And we need to do it as soon as possible."

"And Jacob?" I ask.

"I think that it would be better to tell Renesmee first and start explain the advantages immediately," answers Edward. "If she asks about Jacob, we will tell her that he is welcome to join us. Rather than allow him to use her to manipulate us, we should turn the tables and let _him _be the one forced into the choice."

"I like it," says Rosalie. "It puts the burden of the decision of whether or not they stay together on him. I still don't like the way he manipulated us the last time. It would be good to give him a taste of his own medicine."

"There is no need to be vindictive, Rosalie," remarks Esme.

"Let's get off the topic of Jacob Black and return to more pressing issues," says Carlisle firmly. "I think that Renesmee needs to know about the move so that we can begin to educate her as soon as possible about the logistics of living more closely with humans. We will tell her tonight."

"At least we won't have to worry about her wanting to drink their blood," comments Jasper. "She doesn't have any problems when she visits the reservation, Bella, does she?"

"None at all," answers Bella. "We are going to have to get her to eat human food in school though. At her age, Esme will be getting phone calls about her eating habits and eating disorders if we don't."

"I hadn't realized that," says Esme happily. "I get to play Renesmee's mother for the next few years."

"Yes," answers Edward. "And at her age, she will have to call you Mom in public. I don't think that will be a problem."

"Are you okay with that Bella?" Esme asks me, suddenly concerned.

"No problem, not at all. She will also have to get used to addressing Edward and I by our first names," I say. "At least in public. It will be weird during the years that we are all in high school together."

"In that case we should start her off in seventh grade," says Carlisle. "That way, there will only be two years of overlap. It's lucky that human girls mature more quickly than boys. And that she isn't very tall. Although seventh grade girls have been known to tower over seventh grade boys."

"She's so pretty that she's likely to have lots of admirers," comments Rosalie.

"We'll take care of that," grins Jasper. "None of those boys are going to want to mess with her three big brothers, especially Emmett."

"And not with a guard dog hanging over her," says Rosalie sarcastically.

"Alice you've been very quiet," I remark. "What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking that I wish that Renesmee and Jacob were not blind spots for me," she says honestly. "We are going to have to watch her very carefully before we leave."

"You don't think that Jacob would try to do anything stupid?" asks Esme anxiously.

"Edward would have a better idea of that than I would," she says.

"Well, he certainly is capable of stupidity, but he better not take any chances. In a case where the two of them vanished," Edward says. "I think that the one who Jacob would really need to worry about is Charlie. He's always been a little concerned about Jacob's unexplained attachment to Renesmee. And now that she's older, he's starting to think it's creepy. Remember that he has no idea of what imprinting is all about, or that it even exists.

"If Jacob disappeared with her, it would be a threat to all of us. Charlie would no doubt involve the FBI and that would really complicate things. Renemee's face could end up all over the Internet. We want to keep a low profile with the RCMP anyway, but that's not the way to start out."

"RCMP?" asks Emmett.

"Royal Canadian Mounted Police, remember?" replies Edward. "Thanks to Maria we had to run away from them when we lived in Calgary."

"Well, if he does try anything funny," comments Jasper. "It won't be easy to track him because Alice can't see either one of them."

"We won't give him the chance," replies Carlisle. "First we tell her and then the _nine _of us will tell him. Watching her won't be difficult because none of us sleep."

"He won't like that," says Esme. "He is always looking for more time alone with her."

"Yes, and considering the way that _he's _been hovering for the past seven years," answers Rosalie sharply. "Now it's his turn to step back. It's time for him to play by our rules. We aren't Native Americans bound by tribal law, and neither is Renesmee."

"Where is Renesmee now, Bella?" asks Carlisle.

"She and Jacob went hunting," I reply.

"We will tell her when they get back then," he says. "Then we will tell him later tonight. Make sure that he's completely gone when you bring her over."

"If I have to chase him off when I'll hear his thoughts, it won't bother me at all" says Edward. "The sense of entitlement that this imprinting thing gives the wolves is pretty scary."

"It was scarier when he told you to throw Renesmee out the window when you tried to give her to him so that you could save Bella," says Rosalie.

"He said that?" I ask in horror.

"That's what gave me the strength to walk back into all that blood," replies Rosalie. "And then to clean her up. She was practically dripping with it. But if I hadn't come in, Edward would have had to choose between you and her. I couldn't let him do that."

"I never realized that," I say in wonder.

"After what you went through to give birth to Renesmee, I couldn't let you die in her place," answers Rosalie. "Once when we were arguing, Jacob told me that I wished that you had died giving birth so that I could have her all to myself. He never knew how wrong he was."

"Actually he does know," says Edward. "I told him once when he was complaining to me about you. He forgot pretty quickly. That if things had been left up to him, there would be no Renesmee. I am the first to admit that even though I was furious at you at the time, I have never regretted the way that you protected them both. Until he imprinted, Jacob behaved very badly with regard to Renesmee."

"Esme helped save her too," adds Rosalie modestly. "I knew before you got home, but once she knew, she was totally on our side."

"Okay, I'm tired of talking about this," says Alice. "Girls, why don't we do some shopping for winter wear on the Internet."

As the four of us go upstairs, I can see that the men are conferencing about something. I am hoping that it is about the move and not Jacob. Until we actually know what his reaction is, there is no way to really plan around it. However, we do need to figure out how we are going to move our lives to northern Canada before the end of the month.


	4. Announcement

**A World Full of Strangers**

_Disclaimer: All the characters in the story are the property of Stephanie Meyer. I have borrowed them for my entertainment and (hopefully) your reading pleasure. I make no profit from their use._

**Chapter 4: Announcement**

Now that the decision is made we begin to make our preparations to tell Renesmee. Carlisle is the logical choice as the spokesman, since he really is our "father," so to speak. When he tells her, it will not be presented as an option or choice. We are moving. She is coming with us, end of story. Edward and I go home to wait for her. I look around the cozy cottage with a sense of regret.

"Our first home," I say with a twinge of sadness. "I will be sorry to leave it behind."

"It's a stone cottage," points out Edward. "When we return in a hundred years or so, it will still be standing. We'll be sure to lock it up tight so that no one can get in. Besides, we will be taking everything that we can with us."

"How are we going to get everything up there so quickly?" I ask.

"It's amazing the kind of service that you can get if you have enough money," he answers. "And it's a good thing that we have eight pairs of strong hands because we'll never get a truck in here. But don't worry, Esme is an expert packer and . . . "

"They're coming?" I ask nervously.

"They're talking about the elk she took down," he replies. "And he's talking about that damn motorcycle again. It's too bad that the treaty says that we can't go on the reservation. I would go over and twist it beyond repair."

"Well, at least they gave me a dispensation because I'm Renesmee's mother," I say.

"No," he says. "You got it because she wasn't going there unless you went with her, remember? It's one of the few things that he didn't get his way on."

"What didn't I get my way on?" asks Jacob.

"We were just talking about the fact that Bella is still permitted to go onto Quileute land even though she's a vampire now," replies Edward smoothly.

Renesmee rolls her eyes.

"This whole treaty thing is so absurd," she comments sarcastically. "As if Grandma Esme and Grandpa Carlisle are going to slaughter the town."

Jacob winces. Lately, Renesmee has been feeling her adolescent oats and making her feelings known about a number of things, including the tension between the Cullens and the Quileutes. The Quileutes are getting the short end of the stick in these opinions. But it's really their own fault.

Because Carlisle and Esme have never been anything but gracious to the Quileutes, they are the ones tend to look obnoxious to her. And Carlisle, after he reset Jacob's right side after the battle with the newborns has made quite a few _pro bono_ calls over there, including treating wolves, who for obvious reasons, can't go to the emergency room.

The fact that they let him on the land only when it benefits them looks churlish. Not to mention the many secondhand items that Esme has passed along over the years. My daughter is sharp enough to recognize a double standard when she sees it. Their generosity is welcome, but their presence is not.

"We're going over to the big house later to spend some time with the family again," I mention to change the subject.

"Is my Jacob coming?" asks Renesmee.

"No, this is just family time," replies Edward, as Jacob looks annoyed once more that he is excluded from the family at such times, despite (never realizing that it is because of) the imprinting. "You haven't seen your aunts and uncles for a while and they would like to have your full attention."

"And they don't like the smell," she giggles. "The first thing that Auntie Rose noticed when she walked in a few days ago was that Gran had aired the house out."

Now Jacob rolls his eyes.

"They were only too happy to have the dog smell around when they needed our help dealing with the Volturi," he says.

"So, Jacob," answers Edward pleasantly. "If you can crash our family party, can we come and crash your next big bash?"

Jacob looks incredulous.

"I thought so," says Edward, a bit grimly. "Why don't you go home and hang out with the pack or whatever it is that you do there."

Jacob glowers, but leaves without a word, having flinched at Edward's allusion to the fact that he doesn't have a job. One of the issues that any young suitor has to face, at least in Edward's world, is the acceptance of the girl's father. And not being a Quileute, Edward refuses to recognize Jacob's apparent "claim" on his daughter.

I tried to warn Jacob about how traditional Edward was. Back in Edwards's day, the burden of proof was on the young man to prove his worthiness as a husband and provider to the young woman's father. Jacob scoffed at the idea as old-fashioned, missing the point entirely. As much as I love Jacob, it irritates me to no end that the only traditions he recognizes are those of the tribe.

Jacob might have no romantic intent where Renesmee was concerned now, but Edward, through his mind reading, has already seen it coming. I am beginning to be concerned about the impending cultural war when Jacob finally does see Renesmee as old enough to be girlfriend and then wife. He was present when Nahuel explained that he and his sisters were full grown at seven years.

Edward's code of honor, which I had personal experience with, does not allow for the assumption that Jacob has made that he would just hand his daughter over when the time was right. Jacob's position as the Alpha in the pack is considered an excellent pedigree by Quileute standards. They have their own ideas about honor.

From a Quileute perspective, Jacob was the catch of his generation seven years ago when he first phased, at least among those in the know. In fact there was probably disappointment among the families of unmarried girls of the appropriate age when he imprinted in the half-vampire child of an inappropriate age.

I have heard that there were rumblings among the traditional elders of the tribe that they would not accept Renesmee as his wife based on her half-vampire genes. I was not at all bothered by their prejudice in this case.

At any rate, the point is moot. Renesmee will come with us and Jacob will have to make his own choice. Right now, she is sitting in the living room talking with Edward about the book that she is now reading, something by William Faulkner. As any young girl would, she is glowing in the presence of her adoring father, happy that she can keep up with his discussion of imagery and symbolism.

A couple of hours later, we run over to Carlisle's house, leaping over the river where Rose is waiting for us. Renesmee immediately rushes into her waiting arms and they walk to the house holding hands. Edward and I follow arm in arm. Edward frowns.

"I need to have a word with Rose before we talk to Renesmee," he says. "She is gloating over the impending separation from Jacob. It would not do for her to do that in front of Renesmee."

"I'll try to pry her away," I answer. "Since we don't know how Renesmee will respond, we need to tread lightly."

"Don't expect Emmett to," he says. "But then again, she's used to that from him."

When we enter the living room, there are hugs and kisses all around. There is no doubt about it. We have all missed each other. I notice Edward walking the perimeter of the room, listening for Jacob's thoughts, in case he has decided to eavesdrop. When he returns, Carlisle gives him a significant look and he nods.

"Why don't we all sit around the table?" asks Carlisle, but it is more than a request.

We sit around the table as couples, except for Edward and I who sit with Renesmee between us. She looks expectant. The only time that Grandpa Carlisle calls us around the table is if there is something important to discuss. Since she was a small child, she has always been included, although she has never been given permission to speak. This night will be the first time.

"Renesmee," says Carlisle. "The eight of us had a meeting yesterday and we have decided that in a month, we will be moving to Whitehorse in the Yukon Territory up in northern Canada."

The look on her face is shocked. I can see Edward is carefully monitoring her reaction and looks pained. Rose and I exchange a look of dismay. Carlisle continues.

"As you know," he says. "For the past couple of years I have not been able to work at the hospital because it became too obvious to the people in town that I am not aging. And the rest of the family have either been trapped here at the house or forced to travel far away from the others to maintain our secret. Your parents didn't mind because they were newly married and raising you. But we all miss living with each other.

"We have been here now for almost ten years. We have never lived in the same place for so long. It is time for us to start over. Your parents and aunts and uncles will be playing high school students again and you will go to middle school. I will be able to work in the hospital there, doing what I love and Esme will be able to have her family around her again."

Renesmee now looks even more upset. Edward's fists are clenched under the table.

"You'll like living up north, sweetheart," says Esme. "And we won't be far from Tanya's clan. You know how much you like Garrett and Carmen. And you'll be able to go to school just like other children do. We will show you how to act among the humans so that you can help keep the secret. You won't have to live in hiding anymore. What do you think?"

"But I can't leave," she says, now that she has finally been given permission to speak. "Jacob told me that I have to stay with him. He is my protector and my best friend. He said that when I am old enough, I will come and live on the reservation with him."

"He did?" asks Carlisle, looking at Edward, not the girl.

Edward slowly nods. Renesmee notices.

"I'm sorry, Daddy, but Jacob told me not to think about it when you were near," she explains. "He said that you might not approve because I was still too young. But he's my Jacob. He's always been my Jacob. I can't leave him."

"Well, if _your _Jacob needs to be with you," suggests Rose. "Then he can come with us to Whitehorse. But we can't stay here any longer. Everyone is unhappy here . . . except Jacob, that is."

"And me," she replies with a bit of spirit. "Do you think that Jacob will come with us?"

"Only Jacob can answer that," replies Carlisle gravely. "But you are a part of this family, not Jacob's. You stay with us. You are half-vampire, not Quileute."

"And you don't know how to live among humans," explains Alice gently. "The only place that you've visited is the reservation. You've never even been to town except to see Grandpa Charlie. And even then you can't go publicly."

"I'm confused," she says. "I have to talk to my Jacob."

"No!" says Edward suddenly.

Renesmee pouts.

"You are not going to ask his permission," he says firmly. "This is not his decision. I am your father and as your father, you will remain with me, with your mother, and with the rest of our family. If there is any asking permission that's going to happen, it is his place to ask my permission."

"Renesmee," I say more gently. "We all know how much you and Jacob love each other as friends. And he is like a big brother to you. But it is time for us to move. We have only stayed here as long as we have for his sake. But the nine of us cannot live our lives based on what he wants."

"You mean the eight of you!" she says freshly.

"Young lady, you will not disrespect your mother in that way!" says Edward sharply. "You are one of us."

"But Jacob says . . . "

"I don't give a damn what Jacob says," interrupts Rose. "This is what we get for catering to him for all these years. He has been trying to turn our girl against us with his mystical, magical stories of wolf bonding for years. If he wants to be with you, then he will have to follow us to Canada."

"That's the way that it is," says Carlisle firmly. "We will not leave you behind. And you are not old enough to make this decision for yourself."

"But I'm . . . " she starts.

"Technically speaking," says Edward. "You're almost seven years old. Intellectually, you could probably go to college and ace your subjects. In fact, you probably will someday if you continue to mature. Right now, you're not old enough looking to really even pass for high school."

"I don't really understand why things have to change," she admits. "I thought that you were tired of repeating high school, Auntie Rose."

"Renesmee," says Carlisle. "We explained the story to you long ago of how we became a family and why we all live together. Your parents and aunts and uncles were all changed while they were teenagers. Because they look so young, when we live in different places they play high school or college students. This is so we can stay together without causing too many questions by the humans. But if we don't keep moving, then people notice that we never age.

"Now the others go to school over and over so that we can all stay together. I practice medicine. That is something that I can only do among humans. It's one of the things that keep us moving. Whether you realize it or not, this is the life that you were born into. You are one of us and as you know there are very few of our kind in the world."

"But I'm not a full vampire," she says.

"Neither are Nahuel and his sisters down in Brazil," he says. "But they also live among vampires. From the research that we have done, you are not going to age anymore than we do. Based on their experience, soon you will probably stop aging. At that point, you will have the same problem that we do."

"I still think that I need to stay here for Jacob," she says with a bit of uncertainty. "What will he do without me?"

"I don't mean to sound harsh," replies Carlisle. "But that is his problem, not yours. Right now you need to stay with us so that we can finish raising you. There are still things that you need to learn about yourself, things that Jacob cannot teach you."

"Especially since he barely finished high school himself," mutters Rosalie. "He doesn't even have a job."

"He said that his job is taking care of me," she replies.

"That is not his job," says Emmett. "I don't know what you'd call it, but it's not like he can support himself, let alone you."

"I don't know what to say," she finally admits. "I need to think about it."

"Of course, dear," replies Esme.

"I'm going for a walk," she says.

"I'll come with you," says Rosalie.

"I want to go alone," she says.

Ignoring her, Esme says," I'll come too. The woods are beautiful at night."

Renesmee is too respectful to protest. Looking resigned, she leaves the house walking between her grandmother and aunt.

"This is more complicated than I thought it would be," says Carlisle. "What does she know, Edward?"

"Jacob told her everything about imprinting and what it means," he says glumly. "This is something that Bella and I told him specifically that he should not do. But she wanted to know why he was always with her. And of course, he couldn't refuse her anything. She's even talked to Emily about it. It seems that Jacob has taken it as a given that we will just let her go to him when she reaches full maturity."

"Then he won't refuse to come with her if she asks," says Emmett logically.

"I think he will," I reply. "I can't picture him ever living anywhere else."

"It seems to me that he is missing a key point in the equation," comments Jasper.

"If he is, then so am I," replies Carlisle. "What are you thinking?"

"You're probably right," says Edward.

"Just say it out loud," interrupts Emmett loudly. "I hate it when you do this."

"Remember how the wolf population exploded that year when Edward and Bella were married?" asks Jasper. "First it was in response to the newborns and then to all the vampires who were staying with us to give witness to the Volturi. Jacob has told us on many occasions that werewolves exist to fight vampires. No vampires, no wolves."

"And if _we_ left, then they would stop phasing," says Carlisle thoughtfully.

"And once they stop phasing, they start aging again," I add. "That's what Jacob told me. But Renesmee is immortal. He will die someday, sooner if we leave."

"Yes, theoretically speaking," replies Carlisle. "He will grow into an old man and die one day. She will remain youthful forever. But what does she have left when he dies?"

"Maybe we should change him," suggests Emmet facetiously.

"We can't do that," answers Carlisle seriously. "Our venom kills the wolves. This is a very interesting problem."

"Well," says Edward. "Since he has made full disclosure to her, then we have to also. But she still doesn't get a choice."

"We can't give her a choice," agrees Carlisle. "This is a matter that is too important to put in the hands if a seven-year old child."

Silently, I agreed. I felt sorry for the pain that my daughter was bound to face, but as Carlisle said. This is who she was born to be. And no amount of wishing can change that. The look on Edward's face is still pained. Whatever else he picked up from her mind, he hasn't told us everything. I look at him and he squeezes my hand. I know that once we are alone, he will tell me.


	5. Renesmee's Hero

**A World Full of Strangers**

_Disclaimer: All the characters in the story are the property of Stephanie Meyer. I have borrowed them for my entertainment and (hopefully) your reading pleasure. I make no profit from their use._

**Chapter 5: Renesmee's Hero**

I have never been so confused in my whole life. Here I was, thinking that my life was absolutely perfect. My Jacob is my best friend in the whole world. I have the most wonderful Momma and Daddy in the world. My Cullen grandparents are the most kind and generous people that could possibly exist. My aunties and uncles are back in Forks, so that we are all together again.

Who cares if they are vampires? They are _good _vampires. My Grandpa Carlisle _saves _humans. He doesn't kill them. And they all have beautiful topaz eyes; eyes that tell the whole world that they don't drink the blood of humans. I feed on animal blood too, but I don't have those eyes. My eyes are brown, like Momma's eyes were when she was human. Daddy and Jacob tell that my eyes are lovely just like hers were. But I think that they might be prejudiced.

The Cullens only hunt and feed on animals and their blood. And there are plenty of humans who do the same, only they eat the meat. But what is the difference anyway? Animals are food. Humans are friends and neighbors. In the beginning it was hard for me to understand that. Human blood just tastes so much better than animal blood. But then Carlisle explained that humans donate their blood to help other humans who need it to live, not to feed me.

In addition to my vampire family, I have my Grandpa Charlie and his wife Sue. Poor Grandpa. Because he is a human, he can't know our secret. If he did, then the Volturi would certainly kill him, unless, one of us made him a vampire first. But I don't think that he would like being a vampire. He doesn't like being so close to our world. Every time that I grow another inch, he mumbles, "Need to know, need to know."

Momma always says that we are lucky that he married Sue. Sue understands these things because she is a Quileute Elder. She is even on the Council, the first woman ever. But when her husband died, their son Seth was too young. Now he is old enough, but he doesn't want the position. He said that she earned the position and he didn't. That's why we like Seth so much. He is good and kind.

Sue and Seth understand us, and so do all of the other Quileutes. According to Quileute history, the reason why the tribe members still carry the werewolf gene is so that they can kill vampires. That changed when the Cullens came here the first time. Carlisle made a treaty with Ephraim Black, Jacob's great-grandfather, and the Quileutes promised not to kill them if they stayed off Quileute land and didn't bite any humans.

The only time that they made an exception was when my Daddy had to bite my Momma (many times) to save her after she gave birth to me. My Jacob is the hero of that story. He even helped Daddy keep her heart beating so that the venom would spread after it stopped. _And, _as Ephraim's heir, he gave Daddy permission to break the treaty and save Momma's life. But that wasn't all he did.

The other Quileute pack, Sam's pack, wanted to kill Momma and me because they thought that I would kill everyone when I was still too little to know any better. They thought that I was a monster. But Jacob didn't. He knew that I was good, even before I was born. And then after I was born, he imprinted on me and that meant that no one in the pack could kill me. My Jacob saved me. But he also told me that I was never allowed to tell anyone that I knew that he had imprinted, and what that meant.

Momma and Daddy think that I am to young to understand it. But Jacob explained it to me and it all seems very simple. Jacob is my protector for life. He belongs to me now and will never leave me. I don't understand what the big secret is. Momma must know about it because when she was afraid that the Volturi would kill everyone, she made sure that Jacob and I could escape. She trusted my Jacob to take care of me.

My Jacob has also promised me that he had a big surprise for me on my birthday. But he also said that I had to keep it a secret from Daddy too. I don't like it. It is very difficult to keep secrets from my father. There are some times that I wish I was like Momma and could be a shield. But no-oh, she gets to be a shield, while I get the ability to show everyone every thing that I have ever seen. At least I can control that now, except when it comes to Daddy.

But I still don't like keeping secrets from my Momma and Daddy and the rest of my family. They have never kept any secrets from me. They have told me all about our vampire world and how dangerous it can be for us to go among the humans. I have often wondered why we live in secret in our little cottage in the woods. Momma said that someday we would leave, but until then, it was like living in a wonderful fairy story, wasn't it?

She told me that it is like there is magic all around us. The Quileutes are a magical people. They are shape shifters and understand the supernatural world. And the vampires are also special, because they are immortal and never grow old. Momma and Daddy and all my aunts and uncles will never look older than teenagers. And someday so will I.

And we can go among the Quileutes because they know our secret. And they will keep our secret because we keep their secret. And we stay off their land. Momma can go on their land because she is my mother. And Carlisle can go when they need a doctor. And Esme can go when she gives them things. But they must always have an invitation. I don't think that's very nice at all.

My Jacob's pack can come and go from Carlisle's house and they don't need an invitation. And Esme always makes sure that she has lots of food to feed them, because they eat _a lot._ I asked my Jacob about it once, but he just said that the Quileutes had to be more careful than the Cullens.

Then he got annoyed because I rolled my eyes. But he didn't stay annoyed for long. He never does. Momma tried to tell him that it was normal for girls to roll their eyes when they got older. She said that she used to do it to Grandpa Charlie all the time. Then my Jacob got mad and told her not to compare him to Charlie. I guess it is one of those human things.

Carlisle is so right when he says that I have no experience in the human world. Everything that I know about life, I have read in books or learned from my very limited experience. I know that it always made Momma sad when I wondered why I couldn't have friends my own age or even go to school. But by the time I was four months old, I could already read and write and play the piano. What did I need school for when I had so many people to teach me?

My earliest memories after Momma giving birth to me are of the family sitting around watching me. Even then, I knew that they all loved me. I didn't see much of Daddy then, because he wanted to be with Momma. But I remember sitting with him while Momma finished changing. Every hour, she grew more beautiful and stronger.

And of course there was Auntie Rose to take care of me. After I bit Momma I remember Daddy yelling at someone who was very mad at him. But then Auntie Rose was there to hold me in her arms. I was crying loudly because they took me away from Momma. I had spent all that time inside of Momma waiting to see her, but then they took me away so quickly. I barely heard her speak.

But Auntie Rose was so gentle as she washed me and swaddled me, the whole time telling me what a sweet little girl I was. She told me not to worry about my Momma. Daddy was doing everything that he could to keep her with us. When she was done, she held me close. I wanted to tell her that I knew what she meant, so I touched her neck.

I can still recall the look of wonder on her face when I showed her Momma and Daddy. But she smiled when she realized what I was saying and told me what a clever girl I was. And then Aunt Alice was with us and said that everything would be just fine. Bella's (Momma's) heart was beating.

But the next thing I remember is seeing my Jacob. He looked at me as no one else did. There was so much love. He made me feel so safe and warm, not like Momma and Daddy did, different. And he couldn't stop looking at me. But it was very odd because he kept demanding that the others let him hold me. He was very insistent. I remember Uncle Emmett said that he would toss him out on his ass if he didn't cut it out.

Until Momma woke up, things were rather odd. Auntie Rosalie held me the most and was always happy if one of the others wanted to (especially Esme because she lost her own little baby), but not Jacob, _never_ Jacob. They used to fight about it. Then Momma woke up and I finally met her. And then she threw my Jacob out if the house. That was the first time that I heard the word imprinting.

But then she yelled at him because he called me Nessie, after something called the Loch Ness monster. He thought it was cute, but she thought it was awful. When I was old enough, I asked what the Loch Mess monster was. Daddy told me that it was a mythical sea serpent that lived in Loch (Lake) Ness in Scotland. Then he showed me a picture in a book.

As soon as I saw the picture, I cried and said that I didn't want anyone to ever call me Nessie again. The monster looked like a big, ugly dinosaur. But I was a pretty little girl. And Momma had named me after my two grandmas. And Auntie Rose said that my name was perfect. I had one vampire grandmother and one human grandmother. My name was unique and I was unique.

But it was a long time before anyone talked about imprinting again. I heard about it when I was visiting on the reservation. So I asked Jacob. I said that I remembered that Momma had yelled at him imprinting on me when I was a baby. I wanted to know if it was good or bad. In my memory, it seemed like Momma thought that it was very bad.

Jacob said that she changed her mind and now she thought that it was very good. He said that it meant that we would be together forever. He said that I would grow up soon and then we would get married. I told him that I was too young to get married and he said that he knew that, but someday I would be old enough. Until then, he was still going to be my best friend. He said that as long as he was there, I never had to worry about anything hurting me.

But I still feel kind of funny about it. I mean, why did he tell me so many times that I couldn't think about it in front of Daddy? He said that it was a secret. But I know that Momma knows all about imprinting because she has talked to Emily about it. Emily is Sam's wife and she talked to me after Jacob did.

She told me that Jacob was my man and I didn't have to worry about anything ever again. It was weird. I wasn't really sure that I wanted a man. I have Daddy and I don't like keeping secrets from him and Momma. Then Emily told me not to tell them that I had talked to her. She said that they wouldn't understand. But I think that she's wrong. Momma and Daddy understand lots of things. Why wouldn't they understand this?


	6. The Walk

**A World Full of Strangers**

_Disclaimer: All the characters in the story are the property of Stephanie Meyer. I have borrowed them for my entertainment and (hopefully) your reading pleasure. I make no profit from their use._

**Chapter 6: The Walk**

After the family told me that we were going to Whitehorse, I wanted to go for a walk. I needed to clear my head and think without Daddy being able to hear me. I wanted to go alone, so that I could find my Jacob and ask him what he thought about all this.

But Daddy saw that I wanted ask him if it was okay to go, and he wouldn't let me go alone. So right now, Grandma Esme and Auntie Rose are walking with me through the dark forest. It really is beautiful in the moonlight. But the tranquil beauty does not reflect my inner state of mind.

"Do you really think that my Jacob will follow us when we go?" I ask them.

They look at each other.

"That's up to Jacob," says Esme gently.

"He says that he can't live without me," I explain. "He says that no one can ever protect me the way that he can. He says that we will be together forever."

"What exactly did he say about that?" asks Esme very carefully.

"He said that when I grow up that we are going to get married," I reply. "He says that until then, he will be my best friend in the whole world. He says that no one can ever protect me the way that he can. Emily told me that I am very lucky to have Jacob for my own."

"Emily Uley?" asks Esme.

I nod.

"What else did Emily tell you?" prompts Auntie Rose.

"She said that he is my man, just like Sam is her man," I answer honestly, knowing that they would find out anyway. "She said that wolf girls always marry their men, just like she and Kim and Rachel did. And Claire will marry Quil when she is old enough. That is why she lives with her and Sam instead on the Makah res with her parents. Quil needs to have her close so that he can protect her."

Auntie Rose and Esme stop suddenly. They look very upset about something. Then Auntie Rose finally finds her voice.

"Renesmee," she says slowly. "I want to make sure that I just heard you correctly. Sam and Emily are raising another family's child so that she can be near her imprinter. That seems very odd. She is very young to be thinking about marriage and so are you."

"I know," I say. "I told Jacob that I was too young to get married and he agreed. He is waiting, just like Quil is . . . for me to grow up, you know. But he said that I will be old enough soon because Nahuel was full grown at seven."

Auntie Rose hisses.

"Hush, Rose, you'll frighten the child," says Esme gently. "Renesmee, do you realize that Jacob can't marry you without your father's permission?"

"I told him that, but Jacob said that my Daddy is just old-fashioned," I answer. "He said that whenever a wolf imprinted the girl and her family were happy when she married him. Emily said that Sam didn't ask her father for permission to marry her. He just did."

"Not this family!" says Auntie Rose vehemently. "We aren't a bunch of superstitious natives who don't know any better! Better an old-fashioned father than an ignorant one!"

"Rose!" scolds Grandma. _"Not_ in front of the child. Jacob doesn't realize that his traditions are not the same as ours. We have to respect the differences."

"The hell he doesn't. And we don't have to agree with them, _or _abide by them," she replies. "And Jacob knows damn well about our traditions. He spends half of his life, here for crying out loud."

"No we don't have to agree with them and we shouldn't make assumptions about Jacob," says Grandma. "We will educate Jacob about the way that these things are properly done in our world. Renesmee is not a Quileute. She will not be treated as such."

"What does that mean?" I ask.

"Renesmee," asks Auntie Rosalie, avoiding my question. "How do you feel about leaving Jacob? I mean, if he should choose to stay here."

"I think that he would be very sad if I left," I say. "I'm not sure if he can leave. He's the Alpha in his pack."

"I don't care how Jacob feels," she says. "How do you feel?"

I don't know about that. Does it matter how I feel? Jacob is always going to make sure that I am happy. Emily told me that. She said that I don't have to worry about anything anymore. Jacob will take care of all my worries. But when I think about it, how can I ever be separated from Momma and Daddy?

They love me so very much. My Momma almost died before Daddy could change, just so that I might live. And Daddy faced down the Volturi to save me. They both would have died to save me. Isn't this love just as powerful as Jacob's love for me? They take care of me too.

Everything that I have came from them. They buy my clothes, books, and toys. They give me a house and make sure that I have the human food that I want. They teach me everything in the books and Daddy teaches me to play the piano. There are so many things that I want to know. There are still so many things that they have promised to teach me that I want to learn.

I've never thought about leaving Forks before. It never occurred to me that we all wouldn't live here forever. I thought that everyone was as happy as I was. But what Carlisle said makes sense. If we stay here any longer then we have to hide. And poor Carlisle can't practice medicine to help people.

I know about all the different places that they have traveled because of the pictures and the souvenirs. Sometimes I have even dreamed that I could go to those places too. But lately, I have thought that it would never be anything more than a dream. I don't know if my Jacob could go with me. He always talks about staying on the land, his land: his tribe's land.

"When Daddy said that I was one of you, or of us," I ask. "What did he mean?"

"He meant that you are a Cullen," explains Esme. "We are all Cullens. We are tied together by the venom that created us or in your case, the blood that ties you to your parents. Alice and Jasper came to us by choice. As you know, there are not many like you in the world. As far as we know, there are only five half-vampire humans."

"And we all live with vampires?" I ask.

"That's the way it is," she says. "One of the concerns that we have with you and why you really need to stay with us is that we don't know what kind of human illnesses that a half-vampire might contract. If you were to get sick, the best person to treat you is Carlisle.

"He has been caring for you since you were born. He studied Nahuel and his sisters when we were in Brazil. If you got sick and he wasn't near, you couldn't go to a human doctor. Your normal body temperature alone would throw him off. He might even guess that you were not fully human. It could be very bad."

"And we can't leave you to the mercy of the local medicine man," puts in Auntie Rose.

"What's a medicine man?" I ask puzzled.

"Rose!" Esme reproves.

"I just don't know what to think," I finally admit. "I never thought that I would ever leave here, leave Jacob. But I never thought that you would leave here either. I didn't think that there would ever be another place that we would go."

"Honey," says Auntie Rose. "That is all the more reason that you need to leave here. There's a big world out there for you to explore. You're old enough now to see more and do more. Don't you ever wish that you could go to school with other children?"

I look down. I feel disloyal to Jacob, but I really do wish that I could go to school with other children. Even Claire gets to do that. But he once told me that he is the only friend that I will ever need. He said that someday, I wouldn't need my parents anymore. I would only need him. And Emily said that the only person in the world that matters to her is Sam. It will be like that for me too.

But I don't _always_ feel that way about Jacob. I feel like I need my Momma and Daddy too. That's why I need to see him. I need to know if this is okay. But as I look at Auntie Rose and Gran, I have a feeling that it is a very long time before they will let me be alone with him again.


	7. Dilemma

**A World Full of Strangers**

_Disclaimer: All the characters in the story are the property of Stephanie Meyer. I have borrowed them for my entertainment and (hopefully) your reading pleasure. I make no profit from their use._

**Chapter 7: Dilemma**

"How is she?" I ask Esme, when she and Rosalie return with Renesmee.

"Confused," answers Esme, looking at Renesmee with concern, and then rushes upstairs where Carlisle is working in his study.

Edward comes into the room, anxiety written all over his face. He must have known they had returned by hearing their thoughts. And whatever he heard has him deeply concerned. When he sees our daughter, he hesitates, but she walks over for a hug.

"I'm sorry, Daddy," she says sadly. "I know that you love me. I know how hard you and Momma both worked and sacrificed to bring me into the world. And I really don't want to leave you. I still need you both. I should have thought about it more carefully before I spoke. I mean, I'm sorry if you thought that I loved Jacob more than you."

"Are you sure?" he asks softly, stroking her hair.

"Yes," she replies. "I love my Jacob and I know that he needs me, but I need _you_ more. You all are right. If he needs me so much, then he can come with us."

"Of course he can, dear," I add, to make her feel better, even though I don't believe my own words.

Emmet opens his mouth, but Edward glares at him over her head. Just getting her to admit that she needs us and wants _Jacob _to do the following is a big step forward. Rose rests a hand on Emmet's arm, to further emphasize this.

We have to tread lightly now that she is thinking in the right direction. Carlisle comes in and begins pacing. Whatever Esme told him that Renesmee said while they walking, has clearly upset him.

"We all need to sit down again," he says urgently. "Before this goes any further. Renesmee, I have something to tell you that you need to know before you entangle yourself any more with Jacob Black."

"Carlisle . . . " begins Edward.

Carlisle looks at him intently and shakes his head slightly. Edward looks resigned. Whatever Carlisle is going to say is going to upset Renesmee very much. I prepare myself to try to help my daughter through it.

"I'm sorry, son," he says. "But we have to do this my way. Renesmee is old enough to hear this. And it is something that Jacob needs to know also."

"What is it?" asks Renesmee, now trembling.

Edward and I sit down on either side of her on the couch. Edward still had his arm around her, so I pick up her hand. I notice the promise bracelet that Jacob gave her years ago that she has never taken off. I have never been sure if she really knew what it meant. But we all certainly did.

"Renesmee," he says, when everyone is seated. "Esme tells me that Jacob has given you the expectation that you will marry him when you are old enough. Is that true?"

I feel myself stiffen. Alice's eyes open wide and Emmet and Jasper look fierce. I know that the only reason that Rosalie and Edward are in control of themselves is that they knew this already. This is what Edward was going to tell me once we were alone again.

How _could _Jacob have told her such a thing? She is barely more than a child. He had promised us years ago that he would _not _do this without warning us first. Now that he has broken that promise all bets are off as far as I am concerned. The rage I felt years ago when I first learned that he had imprinted, begins to resurface.

"Yes," she swallows. "My Jacob told me that he belongs to me. He says that we will be together forever."

"Did he ever say where?" he asks noncommittally.

"Well, no," she replies. "But I _think_ that he has always assumed that we would live on the reservation."

"Well, there are a lot of difficulties with that scenario," he says. "Needless to say, marriage involves things that are much more complicated than the close friendship that you have shared up to this point. But the most important thing that you need to know is that your genetic make up is not the same as his. Now I have taught you enough about genetics that you know that humans and vampires have different numbers of chromosomal pairs."

"Yes," she answers, looking down and blushing. "Humans have twenty-three and vampires have twenty-five. One of the reasons that Momma had trouble carrying me while she was still human was that I was too much like a vampire. I was too strong for her and it took you a long time to figure out that she needed to be drinking human blood for nutrition because that was what _I _wanted."

"Very good," he says, clearly pleased that she remembers this. "I think that you should know that you also have twenty-five chromosomal pairs, just like the rest of us. It's one of the reasons that you share our immortality and our preference for blood. You are also stronger than humans and you learn much more quickly and with greater retention.

"Your cognitive abilities were apparent _in utero._ You even responded when Edward told you that you were hurting your mother when you moved too much or too quickly. In the long run, it saved your mother because you were willing to work with us to keep the damage within her body to a minimum.

"Your human qualities are your circulatory system, body temperature, and physical aspects such as eye color and complexion. But physiologically you are much closer to a vampire than a human. The same is true for the Brazilians that I studied when we visited.

"Now we've never told you this, but Jacob is not fully human either. The werewolf part is self-evident, but not the genetic. He has twenty-four chromosomal pairs. This is what the Quileutes call the 'wolf gene,' which is passed from parent to son, or daughter, as is the case with Leah. From what I have been able to discover, until she came along, the women had merely been carriers of the gene."

"What does that mean for me?" she asks, quietly.

"First of all, Jacob is not just any werewolf among the Quileutes," he says, "His great-grandfather is Ephraim Black, the last official chief of the tribe. At present there are still traditional Quileutes who view him as his heir, not Sam. There are certain duties and expectations of this role that Jacob has been ignoring."

"But I don't understand what this has to do with our genes," she says. "Or what it has to do with the imprinting."

I see Edward flinch at the word "imprinting" coming from our daughter's mouth. I feel the same way. It's another one of those things that I wished that he hadn't told her.

"I have talked to Billy Black about the phenomenon, from a purely theoretical perspective. His traditions and myths are my science," he continues. "Billy believes that the purpose of imprinting is to create better wolves and to find a mate who will have the best chance of passing on the gene.

"He has never understood why Jacob imprinted on you, since the chances of someone with an entirely different chromosomal structure being able to pass the gene on to her son seems nearly impossible."

"Wow," says Jasper. "That's weird. But Bella and Edward had Renesmee and obviously other wolves mated with humans to continue their species. Why wouldn't the gene pass anyway?"

"Well, I can't answer that question," answers Carlisle. "But leaving aside the reproductive aspect, everything that I have learned about the werewolves is that they exist to kill vampires. Renesmee is half-vampire. In fact, before Jacob imprinted the pack was ready to kill both her and Bella, simply because they didn't know that she would be harmless to them."

"But my Jacob saved us," says Renesmee, with more pride in her voice than I liked to hear. "He told me that if it wasn't for him imprinting that they definitely would have killed us."

"Well, that point is certainly up for debate," growls Emmet, wounded that she might ever have doubted _his_ ability to protect us.

"So Billy doesn't want Jacob to marry Renesmee," says Rosalie slowly, ignoring him. "Because he doesn't know what kind of child _they _might breed."

Renesmee now turns bright red and covers her face with her hands, obviously deeply embarrassed by the idea of Jacob and her "breeding" anything. It further reinforces for me that despite her level of physical growth, she is still very much a little girl emotionally.

"The Quileutes are a superstitious race," says Carlisle. "And there is good reason for that. They are a small tribe that has managed to survive quite well both beside and in the white man's world. They have mostly intermarried either among their own people or neighboring tribes.

"Their Native American bloodlines are much more pure here than say the Cherokees or the Hopi. Billy told me that if one of them marries outside of their race, they move away. It is a point of pride that those who are here are full-blood, so to speak."

"Doesn't Jacob understand that?" asks Jasper.

"He understands," I reply. "But he's been fighting against it from the beginning, first with me and now with Renesmee. Who knows why? I'm not even sure that he does. But it always seemed odd to me that he never imprinted on some Quileute or other Native American girl. Of course, none of the other wolves have imprinted since he did."

"Not since all the extra vampires went away," remarks Jasper.

"True," says Carlisle. "But that does not get Jacob entirely off the hook. Sam, Paul, Jared, and Quil all imprinted before he did. That's really all they needed to carry on the line, especially if we leave for a century. But Jacob is still not free to marry as he wishes. He belongs to the tribe and owes them his first allegiance. I am not sure that it is even possible for him to leave just to be with Renesmee."

"I don't want Renesmee to get caught up in this power struggle within the tribe," says Edward. "And we would certainly not leave her here without us to protect her. She may be immortal, but she is still vulnerable to any human physical attack."

"This is true," answers Carlisle. "She could bleed to death or suffocate from various injuries. She has nowhere near our inborn defenses."

Renesmee is very quiet. Listening to all of this talk of her vulnerability and that she might not be welcomed as Jacob's wife by his own father, has underscored the seriousness of the discussion. The genetic issues may be embarrassing to face, but this is essentially a life and death discussion.

I feel sorry for her, remembering my own time caught between these same two worlds. But my dilemma was based in the irreconcilable differences between my best fried and the love of my life. Her own situation is much worse than that, fraught with even greater possibilities for heartbreak and tragedy.

Sensing her father's disapproval, she turns to me for solace. Despite the fact that we are close in size, she feels very young in my arms. She may be growing into the body of a woman, but she is really still very much a child. And I can feel that she still needs her mother. Yet, recognizing my sympathetic emotions seems to make her braver. Finally, she speaks very quietly.

"I don't want to leave all of you," she says looking around. "I can't leave you. You're the only family that I know except for Grandpa Charlie, but he's different. He doesn't know who I really am. If I could have my wish, I would want all of us to stay here in Forks forever. But I understand your reasons for wanting to move. So now I just have to wish that my Jacob will come with us."

Rosalie sighs loudly at the phrase "my Jacob," but doesn't say anything. No one says anything. No one wants to add to our girl's pain.

"When do I have to tell my Jacob?" she asks.

"We will tell Jacob," answers Carlisle. "All of us. It is not your burden to tell him. You are simply a child obeying her parents."

But Renesmee shakes her head.

"No, I am not just obeying," she says clearly. "I am staying with my family because I want to. I love them and I will go because of who I am. I've made all of you suffer in the past from nearly killing my Momma being born to nearly getting you all killed by the Volturi.

"It is my turn, my responsibility to the family, to be unselfish now. I am not doing anything because I have to, but rather because I want to. And it's not like I am repaying a debt. I love you and I am a part of you. I understand that better now. I will try to make my Jacob understand it too, so that he will know that he _has _to come with us."

Edward looks around at all of us, and nods. Renesmee's words are nothing but the truth. In the past few hours, since we first told her that we were leaving, she has matured a lot. I know that this will create a true dilemma for Jacob. His imprinting means that he will give her everything that she wants. The question now is: can he give her this?

I am glad that Edward cannot read my thoughts unless I let him. Right now my heart is aching for both my daughter and the man who imprinted on her. This is not going to be easy. In fact, it is going to be dreadful. Despite her intense dislike of Jacob, when I look up, I can see that Rose is looking at Renesmee sadly. She doesn't want her to feel any pain either.


	8. Revisionist History

**A World Full of Strangers**

_Disclaimer: All the characters in the story are the property of Stephanie Meyer. I have borrowed them for my entertainment and (hopefully) your reading pleasure. I make no profit from their use._

**Chapter 8: Revisionist History**

I am relieved when we have finally returned to our cottage. Renesmee has fallen asleep out of sheer exhaustion and is now huddled in her little white bed clinging an old stuffed wolf pup that has been her comfort object since she was a small child. I turn to Edward who has the same worried expression on his face that I do. Normally at this time of night, there are no thoughts of conversation.

This is the time when we can give ourselves over to the endless rounds of lovemaking that only cease when the morning sun peeks over the horizon. But with my little girl's heart breaking in the next room, it is difficult to allow myself to indulge in pleasure for myself. Edward must feels the same way, because he leads me over to the comfortable sofa where we can curl up in each other's arms.

"I'm glad that Carlisle decided not to tell Jacob the news tonight," says Edward, as he thoughtfully strokes my hair. "I think that she has reached her limit for revelation and confrontation for one evening."

"I never realized that things might come to this," I admit. "In my own limited vision of time, I had no idea that we would be looking at Jacob's imprinting from the perspective of eternity. I had no idea of the limitations that it would place on all of our lives."

"I had the ability to understand the perspective," replies Edward. "But I chose to ignore it. I was so grateful that he and the packs were willing to risk their lives on behalf of our child that I didn't look forward to the longer term ramifications."

"I suppose that we could stay here with her," I offer. "And let the others go to Whitehorse without us."

"We can't go back on our word," he replies. "We agreed that if one goes, all go. If we separate from the family and try to permanently settle here, it would break up the coven. And that would break Esme's heart. I am very doubtful however that Rose would choose to leave Renesmee and Emmet would stay with her. Then the four of us could be miserable here, apart from our family, just to keep Jacob happy."

"And the others would be no happier," I sigh.

"The four of us are bound to Carlisle, even you, if only indirectly through me," he says. "Not only is he our creator, he has given us our entire philosophy of life. The only people who would be happy in this decision would be the Volturi. They would no longer see us as a threat, split apart, as we would be. But worse than that, they might look for another way to acquire you and Alice. Aro might even want Renesmee as a curiosity."

"What have you seen in Renesmee's mind?" I ask, ignoring the dark assessment that I did not wish to acknowledge as even possibly true. "Do you have any sense of how unhappy she would be if we left Jacob behind."

"At the present time, Renesmee's mind is a chaotic whirl of misunderstandings, misgivings, and impulsive thoughts," he replies. "She feels that she is caught in an impossible situation where someone that she loves very much will be hurt. But on another level, her emotions are no more or less chaotic than the average adolescent say of about twelve. I guess that you might say that tonight's conversation emotionally aged her, but only to the age of about twelve or so."

"In what way?" I ask.

"Well, in addition to my own observations of other children, I have been reading up on adolescent psychology," he explains. "She has passed the initial stage of child, where she listens to her parents and thinks that they are automatically right, to adolescence where she is testing boundaries and trying to figure things out for herself.

And no doubt there is a lot of pre-frontal lobe development going on. She's a little weak these days on her so-called executive functioning, at least where her emotions are concerned. But there is more to it than that."

"I'm afraid to ask," I say.

"Which means that you know what I am going to say next," he grimaces. "Until Carlisle started talking about genetics and breeding, she had never thought of herself as any kind of sexual being. He did his best to keep the talk as clinical as possible, but she was absolutely mortified at the implication that she might ever do _it _with him."

"What about the marriage talk?" I ask. "She had clearly been thinking about that."

"White dresses and orange blossom, and only in the distant future," he replies. "She knows about these things from books. It has never seemed very _real _to her because she perceives herself as the little girl that she is. All this talk about moving has forced her to look at herself in a new way, and it's scaring the hell out of her."

"So then her feelings for Jacob are purely platonic?" I ask hopefully.

"Yes," he says. "Not only platonic, but familial. She still thinks of him as a big brother. Her perception of him is quite similar to yours. You have always considered him family in that same sense. Only he was too dense to realize it. That same obtuseness also applies to this situation."

"But does she even have a crush on Jacob?" I ask.

"It's more like hero worship," he says. "She is very impressionable and he has told her the story of her birth in such a way that he casts himself as the guardian and protector of her life. She regards _him _as her savior and to a lesser degree yours. Now I will grant you, that while you were pregnant, until I was actually able to hear Renesmee's thoughts, I would also have destroyed her to save you.

"But Jacob didn't feel that way even after I had lifted her out of you. I loved her from the first tiny echo that said 'I love the sound of your voice,' from the womb. We communicated to the degree that when I first saw her curled up inside of you, I had an extraordinary sense of recognition. But even as I lifted her up to you so that you could see her, he was glaring at her with loathing."

"He felt a very deep sense of betrayal when I began to feel the same love towards our child as you did. In fact, until he imprinted, in his mind, he was still thinking of her as the creature. After she was born, he called her the murderer. His original intent when he went downstairs was actually to kill her. Of course, he regrets those thoughts now.

"And he has no idea that anyone else had heard him utter those wretched words. Neither of you obviously saw or heard the words that sent Rose to my side to take her. Renesmee's bond with Rose is powerful because she knew from the beginning that Rose had taken her to care for so that I could care for you.

"She truly didn't want me to have to make the choice between wife and child. I know this through Renesmee's own memories. She was thinking about it tonight. All the time that Renesmee was crying for you, Rose was comforting her by saying that I would save you and everything was going to be okay. Jacob was only interested in your life. He left the room before the change even began to take place."

"But you never gave up," I say.

"Never," he replies. "Even Carlisle said that he wasn't sure that he would have had the tenacity to save you. It is still a mystery to me how Jacob could have gone from hating our child so completely to obsessing over her safety in the blink of an eye. But after it happened, I was too focused on you to think about it."

"So if there is any hero in the story, then it is Rose," I state.

"Unequivocally," he says. "I'm ashamed to admit that if you had not run to her the minute that you got off the plane from Rio, chances are that I would have insisted on the abortion. Rose was very cagey in not telling any of them what you had told her about my intent and Carlisle's complicity.

"She knew that once _she_ knew, Esme, who tried to take her own life when she lost her child, would wholeheartedly agree with her. Actually, Carlisle had been horrified of the idea of potentially killing his own grandchild. Esme provided him with the excuse that he was looking for not to do it. His continuous warnings to you about the danger that you were in were purely for my benefit. I was so beside myself at the thought of losing you that he didn't want to push me over the edge."

"And Rose was determined to keep both of us alive too," I say. "I think that somehow I always knew that, but I did not realize how strongly she felt about it."

"Neither did I," he admits. "I was so focused on saving you that I didn't even hear what she was thinking most of the time. And she must have been in terrible pain the whole time that she was cleaning up the baby. She hadn't hunted in weeks. But having fought for Renesmee from the beginning, she wasn't going to give up.

"I had a good view of her mind while she was talking about it right now. She loves you for the fact that when you returned home, you were prepared to give your own life for the life of your child. Even though it meant going against my wishes. She completely understands_ that_ sacrifice in a way that she never understood your desire to become one of us.

"Having suffered as you did to bring Renesmee into the world, she was determined that you would enjoy the motherhood that you had paid for with your human life. All of her resentment disappeared, the minute that you died and the decision to change was out of your hands. It put you in a position similar to hers when she was changed."

"Did she think at the time that I would 'share,' so to speak, Renesmee with her?" I ask curiously.

"She wasn't sure," he replies. "But her instincts were that you would. You knew her story, and also Esme's. You knew how deeply saddened they were when there was no longer any hope of motherhood for them. You also thought to call her first."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that when you realized that you needed someone to protect you and your child, the first person you thought to call was her," he answers. "Even though you knew that her feelings about you were unsure, ambiguous at best you literally trusted her with both your lives. She, in turn, trusted that you would not begrudge her a little piece of vicarious motherhood if there was a happy ending if things turned out well for both of you."

"Of course I wouldn't," I murmur. "It really is a shame that it turned out to be Jacob who begrudged her time with Renesmee."

"It was about as ironic a situation as you can find," he muses. "And to think that she has gone all these years without revealing that she knew all about the 'throw the baby out the window' remark."

"It sounds like it was more than a remark," I observe. "Why didn't you say anything, especially when he was getting so annoying?"

"Once I realized that Renesmee somewhat reciprocated his feelings, I was afraid that it would hurt her too much," he says. "It is even more amazing that Rose has said nothing until now. But if I had to hazard a guess, I'd say that it was for Renesmee's sake rather than his."

"So you let that pass," I comment.

"Once I knew that the baby was safe with Rose and Esme," he says. "And Carlisle was taking care of her medical needs, my entire focus was on you. I refused to leave your side. I was hardly aware of the imprinting until you were almost awake.

"Rosalie regularly brought me Renesmee to hold. Now that I know her mind completely, I realize that she was determined that Renesmee feel a connection to us, even though I was, at that point, only interested in you. If she wanted to, Rose could have created a connection that was stronger towards herself, than to us. I never knew how great the gift was that she gave us. I thought that she was standing up to Jacob for her own sake. Now I understand that it was on behalf of us as well."

"I am worried about something however," I say.

"What?"

"If Jacob really decides to push Rose's buttons or even push her too far, it is entirely possible that she will reveal the 'throw the baby out the window' statement to Renesmee," I reply. "It would completely shatter her trust in him. If she is confused now, imagine how awful knowing that would be for her. It would be as if her whole relationship with Jacob up to this point has been a lie."

"And it hasn't," he says. "He truly loves her. But I am starting to wonder about the secret that he is going to tell her on her birthday."

"What secret?" I ask surprised. "She didn't say anything about her birthday."

"She didn't say it," he replies. "But she thought it. All the talk of marriage churned it up in her thoughts for a few seconds. She is afraid that he is planning to ask her to marry him because she will be 'full grown,' so to speak."

"This just keels getting better and better," I groan. "Poor Renesmee! Why is he doing this?"

"I think that he just doesn't know any better," he replies. "No offense, honey, but Jacob was never the sharpest knife in the drawer. It's almost as if _he _was the one frozen at his first phasing. But that can't be normal since all of his brothers have grown up and matured. And he's stubborn as all get out, even worse than you."

"And that's pretty stubborn," I say. "Do you think that it is about staking a claim?"

"Possibly, but not in the way that you think," he replies. "He is very proud to be Renesmee's 'wolf-boy.' In his mind it would be a declaration of love for her, of he asked her to marry him, even if he had to wait a few years. He doesn't realize that in Charlie's mind such a move would be cause for great alarm. Who marries a seven-year old. And there is no way that Sue could explain it to him without revealing everything."

"But Charlie was extremely disappointed when I chose you over Jacob," I say. "Wouldn't that be a factor?"

"You are Jacob were roughly the same age," he says. "Jacob is old enough to be her father, at least in Charlie's eyes. And that, from Charlie's point of view, is cradle robbing. And that's a euphemism for what he would really think."

"What do you think will happen when we tell Jacob tomorrow?" I ask nervously.

"Honestly, love," he answers. "I have no idea."

And so we settle ourselves on the couch to wait for the dawn of the day that could redefine our beloved child's whole existence. I am glad that Edward cannot see into my mind, because he would see the conflict raging between my love for him and my family and the gratitude to the man who was instrumental in saving us all.

However we do not owe that man the life of our child. Carlisle has made so many excellent points tonight about the sheer necessity of keeping Renesmee with us that I can't help but think that when Jacob learns of them he will agree. But I doubt that any imprinted wolf has ever faced such a dilemma. It is a pity that he must be the first.


	9. Confrontation Part 1: In the House

**A World Full of Strangers**

_Disclaimer: All the characters in the story are the property of Stephanie Meyer. I have borrowed them for my entertainment and (hopefully) your reading pleasure. I make no profit from their use._

**Chapter 9: Confrontation Part 1: In the House**

The time has come to tell my Jacob that we are moving away. But at least I don't have to do it alone. That is one of the nicest things about being a Cullen. We all stick together. I can understand why they all want to live together again. The first thing that we have to do is get through this. I hope that Jacob makes it easy and says that he will come with us. Then things could be perfect again.

My family is so worried about what Jacob's response will be to the news that we are leaving Forks, that Emmet and Jasper have positioning themselves protectively before me. Auntie Rose and Esme are behind them on either side of me. Daddy and Momma will be in front of us all, but Carlisle will do the talking. Alice is in a far corner room so that Jacob and I cannot interfere with her future sight.

Everyone is very tense. Esme doesn't really want to tell him in the house. She is afraid that he will be so angry that he will phase and tear the place up. Momma however is positive that after seven and a half years, he is able to control his temper enough _not _to phase. Looking around at them all, I realize how important that I am to each of them. There they are, four pairs of mates, and yet they all feel incomplete if I am not among them.

It makes me wonder if Jacob is really right when he says that no one can protect me as well as he can. How could anyone get past two big strong vampires like Emmet and Jasper? And Daddy can read their minds and Alice can anticipate their actions.

And no one could possibly get past Momma's shield. Perhaps Jacob meant that there was no _one _person who could protect me the way that he can. But this is my family. It's like when they all join together it's one huge person guarding me. It is like they are all parts of the same whole.

Jacob just walks, right into the house without knocking on the door. It is one of his habits that bugs my family. He is a proud man, proud of who he is and proud of who he was born to be. The first pair of eyes that he seeks out, as usual, are mine. His face registers confusion when he sees the fear in them and I see Daddy squeeze Momma's hand. Jacob is going into his protective mode, positive that theyhave done something to harm me.

Carlisle looks at Daddy and he inclines his head slightly. Then my Grandpa sighs. Whatever he just asked him, Daddy has confirmed it. And Carlisle doesn't like it. I wish that I could know what Jacob is thinking. But I can't read minds, only faces.

"Welcome, Jacob," says Carlisle. "It is good to see you this morning."

"Really?" he says. "Is that why you've all taken up defensive positions around Renesmee?"

Auntie Rose softly hisses and Esme reaches behind my back to calm her. I can see Jasper concentrating hard to calm the mood in the house. I can feel myself relaxing under his influence. He turns to give me a smile as he senses my greater sense of ease. But Jacob notices right away.

"Why do you have to do?" he complains.

"I'm just trying to set the tone for a rational discussion," answers Jasper in his soft, Southern drawl.

Jacob rolls his eyes.

"Okay, what is it?" he says, as he adopts his own defensive posture.

"The family has decided that we are moving to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory in a few weeks," says Carlisle, without preamble.

After a long discussion earlier, they had decided that the easiest way to tell him would be to be up front, straight to the point, right away. They were afraid that it would cruel to keep him waiting and wondering, especially since he would know that the news was bad.

I can see that Jacob is upset because he starts to tremble and shake all over. Jasper narrows his eyes and focuses only on him. I can feel my own sense of calm slipping away, but he is so close to Momma, Daddy, and Carlisle that he could hurt them if he phased. Emmet crouches ready to spring if necessary. Then Jacob regains his composure.

"You can go if you like," he says forcefully. "But Nessie stays."

I flinch at my old nickname. He only uses it when he is being possessive because it is the name that _he _gave me. Everyone else remains calm. Now Daddy speaks.

"Jacob," he says calmly. "You are under the erroneous assumption that you have anything to say about where _Renesmee _goes and lives. She is my child and a member of this family. She stays with us."

"No, bloodsucker," he says angrily. "You're the one who is mistaken. I imprinted on Nessie. She stays here with me."

Now I know that he is really upset. He never insults my family like that when I am around. It hurts to hear him say that to them.

"Jacob, please," Momma begs. "She is still a child. You can't take her away from us."

"In one month, she will be full grown," he says fiercely. "Then she is mine."

"You must be joking, dog," spits out Auntie Rose, using a derogatory term of her own. "She's not some object to be passed back and forth between us. She is still a little girl and not ready to marry."

"So? She can live with Sam and Emily," he shrugs. "Like Claire. That way I can still protect her until she is old enough for us to marry."

"I didn't realize that Sam and Emily were running a foster home for imprinted babies," replies Auntie Rose sarcastically.

"Enough Rose," says Carlisle. "Before we hurl any more insults or rash statements around, I think that Jacob needs to listen to us."

"The only thing that I want to hear is that she is not going to northern Canada," he says.

I had always known that the imprinting thing was a very serious matter to the wolves. But I cannot believe that Jacob would be so rude to my family. And I don't want to live with Sam and Emily like Claire. I want to stay with Momma and Daddy.

Now it's my turn to tremble. Auntie Rose is crouching behind Emmet, so I turn to Esme. She puts her arms around me and I bury my face in her side. I can't bear to look at Jacob's eyes anymore. They are so angry that they are scaring me.

"Jacob, please," Esme says gently. "You're frightening the child."

"Doesn't she get to speak for herself?" he asks.

"If she wants," says Carlisle kindly. "Renesmee, do you have anything to say?"

I look into his beautiful golden eyes, so filled with love and concern, and shake my head. I know that I cannot say anything that won't hurt someone I love. I am just a child. This is adult stuff. I don't want to get in the middle of it.

"I think that she's afraid of you," he says.

"She's afraid of all of us," says Daddy. "She is afraid that we will hurt each other and it will be all her fault. She loves us all and doesn't want to see anyone hurt."

"What part of 'speak for herself' didn't you understand?" asks Jacob insolently.

"You know that I know her mind," answers Daddy patiently. "Renesmee, love, did I just say what you were thinking?"

I look up and nod and then turn away again before I have to see Jacob's eyes. I just want this to be over. I think that I want to leave the room as hard as I can so that Daddy will hear. I want to go away with Esme, Auntie Rose, Alice, and Momma. And I want Emmet there too. I want to feel safe. I hear Daddy turn around and I peek up at him. In my mind, I say 'please.' He nods.

"Jacob," he says. "I think that it would be best if you, Carlisle, Jasper, and I took this conversation outside."

"I don't," he says rudely.

I cringe and whisper, "Please."

Then he looks shocked, as if he can't believe that I am sending him away. But he doesn't realize that he is trying so hard to protect me from my own family that I am scared. What if he comes back with the pack? We have a treaty, but I don't think that will stop him if he thinks that I am in danger.

But in a second, his expression changes. He can see that I am genuinely frightened by _his_ words. Perhaps he understands that if he hurts my family that I can't love him anymore. If he does, then I will run away to Tanya in Denali. I know how to get there. Carmen would take care of me and Garrett would protect me. That is if Jacob could even find me. Tanya's family lives out in the wilderness. They almost never see humans. But then again, he could follow my scent.

Daddy turns to look at me; and now his eyes looked shocked. Of course. He must have heard every thought in my head. It is his turn to be upset. He shakes his head slowly.

"Jacob," he says moving forward. "We are taking this conversation out into the yard. Unless you wish to continue to upset my daughter."

Carlisle looks at him for a long moment and he nods. Jasper takes a step forward and Jacob turns around and stalks out of the house. Carlisle and Jasper follow him, but Daddy turns to me.

"Don't worry, love," he says very softly. "You won't have to run to Tanya's."

Alice gasps from the corner.

"That's why I just saw Denali," she says. "Everyone there looked awful. Renesmee, did you just decide to go there if anything happened to the rest of us?"

I nod slowly. Momma steps back to take me into her arms and my tears begin to flow. I am the only one who is able to cry, but I know that the others would if they could. Without another word, Daddy goes outside. Emmet turns to me.

"I want to go out too," he says.

"Don't leave me!" I whimper. "We need you to protect us."

"It's okay," says Alice. "The important thing is to make Renesmee feel safe. Ironic, isn't it?"

"Yes," responds Auntie Rose acidly. "We need to protect our girl from her 'protector.'"

Until that point, I never really understood why they always call me "our girl." But now I know it is because I belong to my family as if I was a daughter to them all. And for a moment I feel safe, but only for a moment. Outside, something very bad could be happening.


	10. Confrontation Part 2: In the Yard

**A World Full of Strangers**

_Disclaimer: All the characters in the story are the property of Stephanie Meyer. I have borrowed them for my entertainment and (hopefully) your reading pleasure. I make no profit from their use._

**Chapter 10: Confrontation Part 2: In the Yard**

Jacob's response to the news that we are moving to the Yukon and bringing Renesmee with us is just as bad as I had thought it would be. His refusal to accept the decision was right in line with his usual sense of entitlement. It took a lot of nerve to suggest that she live with Sam and Emily, but it was not really too big of a surprise either. He never even considered suggesting that he might follow us.

Once outside, he leans against a tree scowling at us.

"I suppose that the others are inside now trying to make Renesmee even more afraid of me than she already is," he complains.

"Just for the sake of argument," says Carlisle. "What do _you _think that she's afraid of?"

"I think that she's afraid to leave me," he replies. "I think that you are forcing her to go and she is scared to death of that."

"Interesting thought," I say. "You are telling us that my daughter is afraid of her own family."

"No, I didn't mean that," he says. "I meant that she is afraid that you are taking her away from me."

"We are taking her away from Forks, not you," replies Carlisle calmly. "It's your choice a to whether you come with us or not. Contrary to what you think, this is not about you, Jacob. It is about us."

He looks stunned at the suggestion.

"I can't leave La Push," he says incredulously. "It's my land. I have responsibilities there."

Jasper wants to ask what those responsibilities might be since he doesn't even have a job, but I look over and shake my head. That question will only serve to put him even more firmly on the defensive.

"Perhaps you should listen to the reasons why we are planning to leave," suggests Carlisle calmly. "And why Renesmee needs to stay with us. Things are not as simple as you think."

"Starting with the idea that at the age of seven Renesmee will be old enough to be _yours," _I growl.

"Jasper," says Carlisle giving him a significant look. "Edward, it might be better if I do the talking for now."

I can feel Jasper's influence calming me down. I can tell that he is also relaxing Jacob, probably against his will. But we do need to have a rational discussion and the best person to explain things is Carlisle.

"Let's start with the reason that we are leaving," says Carlisle. "I think that you should realize that the only reason that we have stayed in Forks for this long is so that Renesmee could be close to you. But life is becoming very difficult for all of us. The children still look like they are in high school and yet they are claiming their mid-twenties.

"As their classmates age and the differences become more pronounced, it becomes much more difficult to carry on the charade. I am trying to pass forty. However, there were so many questions at the hospital that I had to 'retire' so to speak. It very much saddens me that I can no longer practice medicine. As you know, it has been my life's work to help humans every way that I can.

"And Renesmee has lived in almost complete seclusion her whole life. You know that her rapid aging would have created even more questions than the complete lack of aging for the rest of us. When the Volturi left we promised that we would make sure that the humans did not learn of her true nature, just as they cannot know ours. The primary law that they uphold is the law of secrecy. We cannot break that law. I doubt very much that any of you want _them _to return.

"The others have been traveling to try and have some kind of normal life, but Esme misses them terribly. For that matter, we all miss each other very much. A coven is not much different from a tribe with two crucial exceptions. We are bound by venom, not blood. And we have no ties to any land. And although we move around every few years, we always stay together."

"But Renesmee isn't bound by venom," he states.

"She is bound by blood to both Bella and I," I answer. "Like it or not, she is more vampire than human."

Jacob rolls his eyes.

"This brings me to my second point," says Carlisle. "Renesmee is immortal, or so we believe. But we have no idea of what her human vulnerabilities might be to any kind of disease or illness around her. We also don't know what would happen if she was injured. Remember that she can still bleed and she needs oxygen to survive. You cannot bring her to a human doctor and expect him to be able to treat her.

"It would not take him very long to realize that she is _not _human. We already know that her physiology is very different. In addition to possibly killing her with his treatment, he would learn her secret. Or at the very least, know that she is not normal. In all likelihood, she would end up being a medical curiosity and possibly even a media sensation. Do you really want that kind of publicity in La Push?"

Jacob is silent. This is obviously something that has never occurred to him before. I can see that a great conflict is beginning to arise in his mind. As her protector, he does not want her in any danger. Yet he is finally acknowledging the possibility that it may be dangerous to separate her from Carlisle at least.

"I would make sure that no harm came to her," he finally says. "That is my job. And if she lives on the reservation, no one would question the fact that she isn't aging. The wolves don't age either. Our people are bound by the same level of secrecy as yours are."

"Carlisle," says Jasper. "May I bring up my point?"

"Yes," he says. "I think that it is important that Jacob hear it if he wants to make a responsible decision about how to proceed."

I can see Jacob mentally rolling his eyes. Other than as a fighter, he does not have a whole lot of respect for Jasper. He has no idea that Jasper's strategic thinking capabilities extend beyond the battlefield.

"Jacob," he says. "I believe that you have told us on more than one occasion that the werewolves started phasing and imprinting after we moved to Forks. In other words, our presence revived the dormant species."

"That's true."

"And before that," he continues. "The last generation of wolves was your great-grandfather's. That was the first time that the Cullens lived near La Push."

"Yes," he replies. "That's true. You know that we only need the werewolves for protection when there are vampires in the area."

"So what happens to the wolves when there are no vampires?" he asks.

"They don't need to phase anymore," he replies. "The only enemies that the wolves have left are the vampires."

"Now, if I'm not mistaken," he says. "There were two reasons for the wolf population explosion seven years ago. The first was in response to Victoria and her newborn army. And the second when all of our witnesses came to stand with us against the Volturi."

At this point, I can see that Jacob is getting impatient. Rather than considering where Jasper may be going with this, he thinks that he is an imbecile.

"This is all old history," he says out loud. "What? Did you forget it?"

"No," he replies politely. "I was just establishing the facts. Tell me. How many new wolves have phased since then? And before you insult me again, remember that I haven't been home much in the past seven years."

"No one else has phased," he says. "We have more than enough wolves to protect the tribe."

"What happens when we leave?" Jasper asks, finally getting to the point.

"What do you mean?" he replies.

"When there are no more vampires living in the neighborhood," he asks. "Will you all still need to phase?"

"No," he says. "Why would we? Unless of course a new coven shows up."

"Don't you see a problem then, for you and Renesmee?" he asks.

"No," he replies.

Jasper looks at Carlisle. I can see that he has run out of patience. Besides, this is moving in the direction of a scientific discussion. Carlisle looks at me, but all I can do is shrug. Jacob has not connected the dots yet.

"Jacob, I believe that your legends tell us that once you stop phasing, you begin to age again," he says in his most reasonable tone of voice. "If you begin to age again, you will begin to grow older, while Renesmee remains young. From what we know of Nahuel and his sisters, they are immortal. You know this for yourself, since you were with us when we visited South America."

Finally, Jacob can see for himself the point that Jasper was trying to make. He doesn't like it. But he also knows the legends and he knows that even if there are no vampires in the area, he can still voluntarily phase. In fact, the first great chief to fight the vampires did so after living three lifetimes. Before he can open his mouth, I prompt Carlisle.

"I think that you need to tell him about the chromosomes," I say.

Carlisle nods.

"Jacob, when Bella was pregnant, we had a discussion about chromosomes," he says. "Humans have twenty-three pairs, vampires have twenty-five pairs, and wolves have twenty-four."

"Yes," he says. "Which you found out by testing my blood without my knowledge."

Carlisle ignores him and continues.

"I have never told you how many pairs Renesmee has," he says. "But even before she was born, we knew that she was more vampire than human. She actually has twenty-five pairs, just like us."

"What are you trying to tell me?" he asks. "That our genes don't match? That wasn't a problem for Bella and Edward."

"I can't tell you if it will be a problem for you and Renesmee," he says. "At least in the case of Bella and Edward, there were some legends, based on fact, to go by. But if you consider how difficult it is for both our species to coexist, I doubt very much that we will find any."

"So what are you saying?" he asks.

"I am saying that there are too many unknowns for you to make presumptions about your future and Renesmee's," he replies. "Up until this point, I am presuming that she has behaved like another other imprinted . . . female."

"Yes, she has," he replies a bit triumphantly.

"But this morning she was afraid of you," he says. "How can that be?"

"It's because of all your lies about me," he says, the belligerence returning to his voice.

I look at Carlisle sharply. Jacob is getting very close to losing his temper. We need to end this conversation now before things get out of control and we all do something that we might regret. Out here if Jacob phases and attacks, Jasper and I can easily take him down, possibly even kill him. And I have my daughter's feelings to consider.

"Jacob," Carlisle says quickly. "I know that we've given you a lot to think about. I believe that you should go and discuss this with your elders."

Jacob opens his mouth to protest, but then thinks better of it. He runs into the woods without another word where I can tell that he is phasing. I sigh. Carlisle looks at me.

"He had a difficult time controlling his temper while he was here," I say. "But he managed. He's not going to give up easily."

"We're not giving up at all," says Jasper. "Now we have some packing and planning to do."

I look out into the woods where Jacob took off regretfully. I really don't want to get into a conflict with him and the Quileutes, but unless we want to leave Renesmee behind, there is no choice. And that is not even an option.


	11. Plans

**A World Full of Strangers**

_Disclaimer: All the characters in the story are the property of Stephanie Meyer. I have borrowed them for my entertainment and (hopefully) your reading pleasure. I make no profit from their use._

**Chapter 11: Plans**

**"**Is my Jacob gone?" I ask as I look up from Momma's shoulder when the others come back into the house.

"For now," answers Daddy. "But I'm sure that he'll be back. Carlisle told him to consult with the Tribal Elders about the move."

"Can they tell us not to move?" I ask puzzled.

"They can't tell us anything," answers Auntie Rose. "I think that Carlisle is hoping that they will explain the facts of life to him."

"Huh?"

"What Rose means," Carlisle says. "Is that I am hoping the Tribal Elders will explain to him that his imprinting on you does not mean that he has any right to take you away from us against our will. And that it is his responsibility to follow you, not the other way around."

"He was thinking about that when he was talking to us," says Daddy. "He was trying to remember if Claire's parents had been willing to just give her up to Sam and Emily to raise so that she could be near Quil. But I can't believe that they were forced to give her up. The Makahs fully buy into the old Quileute legends."

"Renesmee," says Carlisle seriously. "When we were outside, Jacob told us that you were afraid because you didn't want us to take you away from him. Now tell me the truth. Do you feel that way?"

"No," I say. "I was afraid that I would hurt his feelings if I told him the truth. I don't want to leave my Momma and Daddy. But I want him to come with us. Do you think that he will?"

Everyone looks at Daddy.

"He isn't even considering it," he says. "He wants to stay on the reservation. It's an interesting clash of cultures. It is unfortunate that he views Renesmee as a part of his culture because he imprinted. But actually, she has been raised as a part of our culture. I'm curious. Renesmee, when you visit the reservation do you feel at home there?"

"Not really," I admit. "I mean the other children are so different from me. They don't like to talk about books or music, except for their music. They don't know much about history or science. They know a lot about their legends and their tribe's history. It's hard to play with them because I don't understand their games."

"How would you feel about living there?" he asks.

"I would miss everyone a lot. You are my family," I reply. "And I wouldn't know what to do. I don't think that there would be anyone to teach me. Sometimes Emily teaches me, but it's all about their magic and how great it is to be a wolf girl. And she says that now I am in their family."

"This is ridiculous, Edward," says Auntie Rose. "She has no interest in reservation life. If she did, don't you think that she would be asking to go there more often?"

"I'm wondering if we shouldn't move up our timetable for the departure," says Esme. "I'm afraid that if we drag this out too long that we could have trouble, _big_ trouble."

"You don't think that the packs would attack us?" I ask anxiously.

"No, of course not," answers Carlisle quickly. "Do you?"

"I don't know," I say. "I mean, suppose they're like Jacob and think that they have to protect me from . . . from you? And what if _they _think that you are taking their family away from them."

"I never considered that," says Daddy.

"We can't leave without telling Charlie," says Momma.

"If we tell him, will he tell Sue?" asks Carlisle. "And if he tells her, will she feel that she has to tell the others?"

"It would be useful to know what the Elders make of Renesmee leaving," says Daddy. "But I think that we should prepare for a fast departure anyway. If necessary, Bella, Renesmee, and I can stop and say goodbye to Charlie on our way out of town."

"If you leave by car," says Jasper. "They can't track you. But you might want to go to Whitehorse by a more circuitous route."

"Through Montana and North Dakota and then up through Manitoba and Saskatchewan," says Carlisle. "You know the way, Edward."

"It's a pretty drive," adds Esme. "Plains will be lovely in late summer. You'll need passports at the border. It's too bad there's not enough time to get real ones."

"Jenks will be cooperative," says Jasper. "Especially since Bella overpaid him for the last job he did for her. There is one problem."

"What?"

"Do you think that you will be able to pass off Bella and Edward as her parents?" he asks.

There is silence all around.

"I'll go with them," Esme immediately offers. "We don't want the immigration officers to think that Renesmee is being kidnapped. It wouldn't be the first time that Edward has played my brother. And for the few minutes that we're at the border, there's no reason why Bella can't be our sister."

"And Renesmee will be your daughter," adds Carlisle. "But it might be smarter if you went through with Renesmee alone. Bella and Edward can run through the wilderness meet you on the other side."

"But what if they get caught?" I ask.

"Huh!" says Emmett. "As if any immigration officer could see, let alone catch them."

"Don't worry Renesmee," Daddy assures me. "Even if they got close, I would hear them thinking. But there's no fence across the Canadian border the way that there is across the Mexican one. It will be fun, more fun than driving through the checkpoint"

But I don't like to think about being separated from them anyway. I've never been away from them for one night at a time. Even then, I was staying at the big house and they were at the cottage. Of course, it's also because we've never gone anywhere before except Grandpa's house and the reservation.

"Renesmee," says Momma. "Why don't we go back to the cottage and start packing? Esme, do you want to help us?"

"I'd be happy to," she answers cheerfully. "Why don't the rest of you stay here and pack up the house? Carlisle, you should call those movers and see how quickly they can get here."

"When do you want them?" he asks.

"Tomorrow morning," she replies. "Emmett, you should see about getting the cars moved. And Edward, when you're done moving the heavy stuff here, you should come to the cottage to help us."

"Yes, ma'am!" answer the two boys smartly.

Auntie Rose rolls her eyes.

"This is your first move, Bella and Renesmee," she says. "Esme knows exactly how to get things done. As long as we all do what she says, we will be out of here in twelve hours tops."

"That quickly?" asks Momma.

"We want to try and get away before Jacob returns," answers Carlisle. "If he realizes that we are leaving so soon, his temper may get the best of him. The last thing that we want is a fight. I wouldn't like to see him harmed. As soon as the cottage is packed up, the four of you can say goodbye to Charlie. You want to give him a little time to say a proper farewell."


	12. Goodbye

**A World Full of Strangers**

_Disclaimer: All the characters in the story are the property of Stephanie Meyer. I have borrowed them for my entertainment and (hopefully) your reading pleasure. I make no profit from their use._

**Chapter 12: Goodbye**

I can believe how quickly everything has been packed up and ready to go. But I guess that's how quickly things can be done when you have eight vampires who don't need sleep and can move in super fast motion. When I wake up the next morning, nearly everything in the cottage is gone and when we go up to the big house, there is a huge moving van pulling up to load everything that we are taking to Whitehorse. Earlier, there was a carrier to pick up the cars.

Daddy is going to use the Mercedes to drive up us up and the others are going to fly. They are renting a furnished condo for us to live in until we can find a house that we like. Everything is going into storage until then. Daddy tells us that it will only take three days to drive up at vampire speed. We are going to drop him and Momma off in Red River, North Dakota and then meet them in Winnepeg, Manitoba.

Everyone keeps telling me that things are going to be just fine. My Jacob has not come back to the house yet and they don't think that he will be back before we leave. It's not that they don't want to say goodbye to him, it's just that they don't want another argument.

Carlisle says that arguments are bad because people say things that they regret later. He said that things ended badly last night and he doesn't want them to get any worse. Auntie Rose is grumbling that she still has plenty to argue with him about, but Daddy tells her to shut up and looks over at me.

I can tell that everyone is nervous however. Uncle Emmett is looking very impatient because the human movers are taking so long to move the furniture and crates. But he knows that we can't do it ourselves. Well, he, Uncle Jasper, Carlisle, and Daddy are helping, but they can't move at vampire speed.

Momma has already packed me a bag and picked out some clothes for me to wear. She, Esme, and my aunts are all dressed in jeans and long sleeved tee shirts. They also have baseball caps and sunglasses ready. They are pleased that there is a thick cloud cover overhead, but that probably won't last as we drive east. The ones who are flying have it easier. They are inside most of the time.

When things are finally packed, the truck takes off. Both houses are locked up and we stand in the driveway looking at the big White House for the last time. Momma, Daddy, and I have already said goodbye to the cottage.

"Our first home," Momma sighed, when we left it.

"Don't worry," said Daddy. "I promise we will come back."

"In a hundred years," she replied.

"And you will be surprised how quickly that hundred years passes," he answered.

Momma smiled uncertainly. I knew how she felt. A hundred years sounded like a long time to me too. Everyone that we know except for vampires will be dead by then. Even now, standing outside our old home, I feel sad. This is the house where I was born. Just like the cottage, I have so many happy memories. But right now, I think that the two saddest people are Carlisle and Esme. They hate being apart, even for a little while.

"It's only three days, Esme," he is saying, as he holds her. "Then we will all be together again. Alice?"

"I promise, Esme," Aunt Alice says. "I see us all back together in three days. We are all very happy. Nothing is going to go wrong."

Esme smiles uncertainly, but then turns to us.

"At least we will be all together soon, no more traveling for our children for a while," she says, trying to smile. "Carlisle, you will call the minute that you get to Whitehorse?"

"I promise," he says. "And you should keep calling from the road. Just keep the cell phone hooked up to the car charger."

It's time for hugs and kisses all around. Auntie Rose looks very sad as we say goodbye.

"I'll miss you," she says as she hugs me.

"I'll miss you too," I say. "But we will be back together soon. We've been apart for longer."

"I just wish that I could travel with you," she says, wistfully.

"It's better this way," says Carlisle. "It's much less conspicuous. If the nine of us all flew together we would be much more noticeable. And taking the roundabout route is probably unnecessary, but I don't want to take any chances."

"No, we don't," says Daddy. "But we really need to get to Charlie's so that he can have a nice goodbye. Is Sue there?"

"I just called. They are both there," Momma replies. "But they don't know why we're coming."

"Oh, dear," says Esme. "Do you think that Sue will be a problem?"

"Probably not, I think," says Daddy. "But you and I will talk to her while Bella and Renesmee say goodbye to Charlie."

"I think that Charlie will appreciate that," says Momma.

Then, without any more delays, we all get in the cars and leave. On the way over to Grandpa's house, Momma suddenly looks very sad. I know that she is thinking about moving so far away from Grandpa. Esme looks back at her.

"You know that we will bring Charlie up to visit any time that he wants to come," she says.

"I know," Momma answers. "I'm just afraid that it's going to get too weird for him when none of us are aging. And if we're all going to high school again, well, that's going to seem very odd."

"I think that Sue can help him with that," says Daddy. "She knows all about the supernatural world. After all, two of her kids are werewolves. And as long as werewolves phase, they don't age either."

"But Charlie doesn't know anything about that," says Momma.

"Because he doesn't want to," he says. "Remember that Charlie's mantra is 'need to know,' these days. In some ways this will be easier for him because he won't have it in his face almost every day."

"I guess you're right," she sighs. "I suppose that I just don't like saying goodbye."

Before we know it, we are pulling up to Grandpa's house. He comes right out to greet us while Sue hangs back in the doorway. He looks at the four of us in the car and immediately figures out what is going on. We all know that he's been waiting for this day.

"Why don't we give them some privacy," says Daddy, as he and Esme go up the stairs and inside with Sue.

"So Bella," says Grandpa. "I guess that you're finally leaving town."

"Yeah, Dad," says Mommy. "It's time. We are going to be moving up to Whitehorse in the Yukon. I know that it's far away, but we are looking at it as an adventure on the frontier."

"Well, I suppose that I'm lucky that you stayed around for as long as you did," he says. "I mean, even I can see that it must be kind of weird for you to be around here, looking like you're all still in high school."

"Yeah, it's been tough," she says. "And Carlisle hasn't been able to work fir the last couple of years."

"I heard all those ridiculous rumors about plastic surgery," he says. "Absolutely absurd. Some people just don't wrinkle so easy. He's a great doctor. I suppose that the hospital up there is glad to have him."

"Of course," she says. "Right now a lot of the patients have to wait for visiting specialists to take care of things that Carlisle knows how to treat. Or they have to fly them down to British Columbia. And you know how everyone loves camping and hiking. There's plenty of frontier up there to explore."

"That's good," he says. "You all have never been much for the big city."

"Yeah, and well, we really haven't been outside the house much in years," she says. "Only to see you and go out to the reservation."

"So is Jacob coming with you?" he asks.

"I don't know," she answers. "It's kind of up to him. He knows that we're going but I don't think that he's decided what he's going to do."

"Well, I would be surprised if he didn't show up," he says. "Hey, Renesmee! Are you set to go live up there in the Yukon?"

"Sure, Grandpa," she says. "Carlisle told me all about it. It sounds like it's going to be a big adventure, just like Momma said. And I'm finally going to get to go to school."

"Go to school?" he looks at Momma. "But don't you know everything in the books already?"

"No," I say. "I still have a lot to learn. And it will be fun to meet other kids. I've never really had much of a chance to make friends around here."

"Yeah," he says slowly. "I guess that will be easier now that you're not growing so quickly."

Momma and I share a smile. Grandpa gets his "need to know" look on his face.

"You're going to visit us, right Grandpa?" I ask.

"Do you want me to?" he asks a little nervously.

"Of course we do!" I say. "We're all going to miss you. You and Sue are our family too."

"And Dad," adds Momma. "You don't have to worry about the plane fare. Carlisle promised that anytime that you and Sue want to come and visit, he will pay to bring you up. Emmett says that the fishing up there is great."

"That's generous of him," says Grandpa. "But Carlisle has always been a generous man. Just take a look at all that free medical care that he has given them over at the reservation. And Esme is real nice too. I guess that they're going to miss them a lot."

I could see Momma struggling to keep her face blank. I know that the Quileutes aren't going to miss the Cullens at all. Uncle Emmett told me that the last time they left, before Momma and Daddy were married, that they had a big bonfire to celebrate. I asked Momma to be sure and she said yes, that's what happened. Then she looked annoyed and said something about Emmett having a big mouth.

"I'm really going to miss you, Dad," says Momma. "It's been nice living so close these last eight years."

"You know, Bella," he says. "You don't have to feel so bad about going away. I mean, a lot of your old high school friends have moved away. A lot of the kids from this little town move out to find jobs and make a better life for themselves and their families."

"Yeah, I know, Dad," she says. "And it does make me feel better that I am nit leaving you here all alone. I'm really glad that things have worked so well for you with Sue. You're really great together."

"Yep," he says. "She's one great gal. And she keeps me in line."

"Who keeps you in line?" asks Sue coming through the front door.

"You do, lady!" he says, trying to be cheerful.

"Goodbye to you all," she then says. "And we'll be up to visit. I bet there's some great fishing up there."

"See, Bella?" says Grandpa. "That's why you don't have to worry about me. I'm married to this terrific gal who loves fishing almost as much as I do. How many guys are that lucky?"

"I'm sure the fishing up there is great," says Daddy. "And remember, anytime you want and we'll get you the plane tickets to visit."

"I know, I know," Grandpa says as he reaches down to give me a hug and a kiss. "Next person that says that gets a good whollup from me."

Then he gives Momma a big hug and a kiss, hugs Esme, and shakes Daddy's hand. Before we know it, we're back in the car and driving away. For a long time, nobody says anything, but Momma doesn't stop looking out the back window. Finally she talks.

"You know," she says. "I think that I took that harder than he did."

"He's been thinking about it for a while," says Daddy. "And when we pulled out, he was thinking about Mike Newton, Angela Weber, and all the other kids from our class who went away, did four years of college, and then got jobs in the cities."

"I know," she says. "He said something about that."

"He's going to be all right," says Daddy. "He has Sue and she loves him a whole lot."

"Did she say anything about the Elders?" asks Momma

Daddy and Esme look at each other and then at me.

"They had a Council meeting last night with Jacob but haven't made any decisions," he says carefully.

"Did they say that my Jacob can come with us?" I ask hopefully.

"I am not sure that the Council has anything to say about Jacob's choice," replies Esme. "But no one is going to force him stay on the reservation. If he wants to follow us, he is free to go."

"Okay," I answer.

I look over at Momma, but her face is blank again. I don't think that she is thinking about Jacob at all. I think that she is thinking about Grandpa and how much she will miss him.

So then maybe Jacob will follow us after all. Maybe he was just so surprised when we told him that we were moving that he overreacted. Maybe he thought that the Elders wouldn't let him come.

I think that it's silly to think that he might try to stop me from leaving or take me away from my family. But who knows what anyone else will do? All my life, I have wanted to go school and meet new people. But now I realize that I am about to go out into a world full of strangers. It would be nice if I had my Jacob to go with me.

There is a part of me that wishes that I could have explained to him why I want to go, so that he doesn't think that my family is forcing me to go. And I want him to know that I am not trying to get away from him. Maybe if he understands, then he will see why he needs to follow me so that we can be together.

But maybe he will miss me so much that he will be up to see us soon. Even if he only says that it is a visit, I bet that he wouldn't want to leave. I know that he loves me more than anything else in the world. And one time he told me that he couldn't live without me. It was a little odd when he was insisting that I stay with him and we live on the reservation. I mean, does it really matter where we live as long as we are together?

I guess that Jacob wasn't thinking about us leaving the way that Grandpa was. I really thought that Grandpa might be so upset that he would be mad too. I have memories from when I was very little of how shocked Grandpa was when I was born and Momma became a vampire. He was real mad any time that anyone would suggest leaving.

But Grandpa wouldn't leave and go anywhere. He is the Chief of Police in Forks. It's the only job that he ever had. And when my other grandmother took Momma away when she was a little baby, he wouldn't leave to follow them. But my Jacob is different. He doesn't have a job. Maybe he could get one in Whitehorse. He's very good at fixing things and you always need people to fix things.

And if he came up and didn't try to make me leave Momma and Daddy, then maybe they wouldn't be so upset with him. They were never upset with him before. It only started when they started to talk about moving away and he said that he wanted me to live with Sam and Emily. I remember how Momma always said that he was a part of our family.

I know! Maybe _Jacob _is confused because he doesn't know which family he really belongs with. I mean usually, the girl leaves her family and becomes a part of the boy's family, but it doesn't always happen that way.

"Renesmee," Daddy says suddenly. "Do you have something that you want to ask us?"

I pout for a minute. I forgot how Daddy could read minds, even if he was driving. He must have heard every thought that I just had.

"Didn't Uncle Emmett join the family so that he could be with Auntie Rose?" I ask.

"Well," says Esme. "You could say that. As you know, Emmett was nearly killed by a bear and Rosalie saved his life by bringing him to Carlisle to change. When he woke up, he was free to go wherever he wanted, but he and Rosalie were destined to be mates, so they stayed with us."

"Didn't Uncle Jasper and Aunt Alice choose to join the family too?" I ask.

"It was Alice who made the decision," says Daddy. "Jasper was just following along. They were already mates when they came to us. Jasper was happy to live wherever Alice wanted to."

"So then," I say. "It doesn't have to be the man who makes the decision about where the mates live."

Esme and Momma look at each other and then Daddy. He gives them a look that says, "Let me tell it."

"Renesmee," he says. "As you know, in our world, covens are usually two mates who live together, although there are exceptions. Even though some of our kind refer to us as a coven, we are really more like a family in the way that we love each other. And just like in any human family, the bond between mates is the most powerful.

"The relationship between you, Momma, and I is completely unique because you are our child. And it is different from the way that Carlisle is my father, because I did not create you. The three of us are connected by blood, not venom."

"But you created Momma," I say.

"Yes," he says. "That is a powerful bond between us, but so are you. There is a part of you that is Momma and a part of you that is me."

"Renesmee," asks Momma. "Why are you asking all of these questions?"

"I'm trying to figure out why Jacob doesn't just come and become a part of our family," I explain. "You know, like Uncle Emmett did because he wanted to be with Auntie Rose, and Uncle Jasper did because wanted to be with Aunt Alice and _she _wanted to be with us."

The other three all look at each other again. Finally Esme answers.

"Only Jacob can answer that question," she says. "Because we know about the imprinting, he is welcome to become a part of this family. But you need to remember that vampires have a kind of free will that werewolves don't."

"But no one is going to force him to stay on the reservation," I reply. "That's what you said. So he can come and live with us."

"Yes, in this case, Jacob has his own free will to make his choice," she says.

"Maybe Jacob never realized that he had this kind of free will before," says Momma. "Maybe he just needs to figure things out."

"And then he will come," I say firmly.

No one answers me, but I can see that they all look doubtful. However, I know that my Jacob would never leave me. He has to follow. He can't let me live in a world full of strangers without being there to protect me, can he?


	13. The Quileute Council

**A World Full of Strangers**

_Disclaimer: All the characters in the story are the property of Stephanie Meyer. I have borrowed them for my entertainment and (hopefully) your reading pleasure. I make no profit from their use._

**Chapter 13: The Council**

"Why don't we give them some privacy?" I ask politely, while we are standing below the steps of Charlie's house.

Sue looks over at Charlie, Bella, and Renesmee about to have their final conversation and nods. Esme and I follow her into the house. Understanding the nature of vampires, she does not offer us a seat. I have a very deep respect for this woman.

There are not many people who are able to rise above their own ethnic and cultural identity and understand the human qualities shared by those who are externally different. She is still not particularly fond of us, but she is slightly better than tolerant for Charlie's sake.

She herself received some degree of hell from the Council when she decided to marry the paleface, Charlie Swan. There were also those who called for her replacement by her son Seth. But good-hearted Seth wouldn't hear of it. His love for his mother was stronger than any cultural bias that any of his tribal family might have. I know that of all the Quileutes, I am going to miss that young man the most.

"This is about Jacob," she says, without preamble. "Isn't it?"

"So he came to you last night?" asks Esme, going on the offensive. "He didn't waste any time."

"He insisted that we call a Council meeting right away," she answers. "And he wanted all the wolves present too, both packs. It was a very tense situation. Luckily, Sam and Billy were able to keep him under control."

"I'm curious," I say. "How did he present things to the Council? You looked surprised when we pulled up and said that we were leaving, more surprised even than Charlie was."

"You did tell him that you were leaving in a month," she replies. "And I can't imagine how you managed to pick up stakes so quickly. Is there anyone left at the house?"

"We're the last ones out," I answer. "The moving van is on its way to Canada and by now the others should be at the airport. We decided to drive so that we could take a more indirect route. Among other things, it will give Renesmee some time to adjust to the idea of her new home."

"Jacob told us that you were essentially kidnapping her," she replies. "He said that she is terrified because you are taking her away from him."

"That's not quite true," I say evenly. "She is afraid that he is going to be hurt by this. But given the choice between staying with him alone and coming with us, she wants to come with us."

I resist the urge to add sarcastically that the imprinting must not have worked as well with her as the other girls.

"He thinks that he is going to marry her next month when she turns seven," Sue grimaces. "Because that is when she will reach full maturity."

"That depends on your definition of maturity," replies Esme, with a slight edge in her voice. "Sue, if she were your daughter, would you want to see her marry in a month? You know her as well as anyone outside of the family."

"I actually brought up that point last night," she admits. "But he said that if she needs some time, she could live with Sam and Emily, like Claire does."

"He mentioned that to us as well," I say. "I have a question. How did Claire's parents feel about turning their three-year old over to be raised on another reservation by another family?"

"I would be lying if I said that they were happy about it," she says reluctantly. "But they are Makahs and they understand the legends. Unlike the parents of the older girls, we had to tell them about the werewolves and werewolf imprinting. Otherwise, the level of attention that Quil was giving their baby girl would have frightened them.

"Emily helped explain the situation and Claire's mother is her sister, so at least the girl is still living with very close family. They knew the myths, but never imagined that they were true. And Claire was always begging to be with Quil anyway. In the end, they didn't really have a choice."

"As we were telling Jacob about the move," I say. "He was thinking about how stupid we were because we didn't understand what an honor it was for her to be imprinted by the future chief of the tribe."

"That's interesting," she says. "Because he has never claimed that position, even though he could have when he first phased. Sam tried to offer him that honor again when he gave you permission to bite Bella. But once again, Jacob turned it down. In order to claim his birthright now, he would have to spend more time on the reservation and become the Alpha of both packs.

"So Sam is the next chief when Billy passes. And Billy may be in a wheelchair, but he is healthy as a horse, so that Jacob won't even be a Council member for a long time. The only thing that Jacob can assume he is inheriting is Billy's spot on the Council. As you know, Quil has taken his grandfather's place."

"But there are two packs," I point out. "Therefore, there are two Alphas. Doesn't that, combined with his heredity advantage, give Jacob the opportunity to claim the title anytime he wants?"

"Not exactly. Yes, the two packs are an anomaly," she agrees. "No one ever imagined that there would ever be a need for seventeen wolves. And as for being the second Alpha with a claim, you may not realize that we also have elected Council members, so all of this is not just about heredity. There is a certain element of choice given to the tribe.

"It would be very difficult for Jake to shirk his responsibilities for so many years and then claim to be chief. No one is exactly happy about the amount of time that he has been spending up at your place because he couldn't stay away from Renesmee. But in his mind, that's your fault not his.

"But more than that, with you moving away, there's no reason for the tribe to need one or two wolves. The chances of another vampire coven of eight moving so close are minimal."

"More like impossible," replies Esme. "We are the largest coven in existence with the exception of the Volturi. But I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for them to show up again. They track our movements and will have no more interest in Forks once we are gone."

"We figured that out for ourselves," she says. "Last night, Jacob's pleas were all about Renesmee, the fact that he imprinted, and his view that this means that the sixteen other wolves are bound to protect her. He has defined that protection as staying close to him.

"But the vast majority of the tribe could care less about Renesmee. It would be bad enough if she was just a paleface, but she is also half-vampire. I can't speak for everyone, but they were all pretty happy to hear that you all are finally moving on."

"The only reason that we stayed as long as we did was for Jacob and Renesmee," I explain. "But things have become too difficult for the rest of us. And I am not leaving my daughter behind. Did Jacob mention the situation with her health?"

"He said something about her having to be near Carlisle, but he made it sound like a specious argument," replies Sue.

"Not quite," says Esme. "Renesmee's physiology requires a doctor who knows all about her true nature. Even if you took her to the ER healthy, a doctor would think that she was running a fever by her body temperature alone. Her skin is a completely different texture and she doesn't sound at all like a young teenager when you speak with her."

"If she became sick or injured, it is possible that a human medication might kill," I add. "She may have the potential to be immortal, but we still have no idea of what might kill her. And there is no way to test any theories without putting her life at risk. She is not as invincible as a vampire."

"But why did you change your minds about leaving so quickly?" she persists.

"We decided to leave as soon as we did for two reasons," I reply. "The first is that since we did not know what the Council's response would be, or the packs for that matter, we didn't want any kind of conflict that might get out of control. The second reason is that we didn't want Jacob to come back to us and say anything more that could damage his position with the rest of the family.

"Technically speaking, we have accepted him as a part of our extended family. But as I am sure you know, sometimes the most contentious and bitter feuds occur within families. Renesmee loves him very much as a big brother and protector. I don't see that perception changing in the next month."

"He mentioned that several of them are dead set against letting him be with Renesmee," she says. "No pun intended."

"That's one way of looking at it," I reply, rolling my eyes. "We are all well aware of how Renesmee feels about Jacob now. But long ago, he told Bella that when a wolf imprinted, the girl was unable to resist the love and adoration that he gave her. And the wolf had no choice in the matter. He was suddenly tied to the planet, his exact words, by her existence."

"That is as accurate a description as I have heard," she replies. "Emily tried to resist Sam because she was outraged that he was treating Leah, who is her cousin, so badly. She didn't believe him when he said that he hated hurting Leah, but he had no choice. She was scarred when she was arguing with him and got too close when he lost his temper.

"And yet, despite all of that, she couldn't resist his attraction and devotion to her. Now they are married with two children of their own. They are living in this state of bliss, while my poor daughter Leah is left alone and miserable."

Her words become bitter as she mentions her daughter. I have known Leah through her thoughts throughout the years. She is still terribly unhappy, unable to break away and unable to move forward. Her anger keeps her phasing. Her one consolation has been that the two packs mean that she no longer has to live in Sam's head.

"So the families have no say about the fate of their daughters once the wolves imprint?" I ask. "What happens if the family doesn't like the guy?"

"Jacob knows that better than anyone, although he doesn't like to think about it," she replies. "Paul imprinted on his sister Rachel. That made both Billy and Jacob unhappy since Paul is something of a jerk. They were in a tough position until they married and moved out on their own.

"Paul wanted to be with Rachel and he nearly ate them out of house and home every time he was there. But she constantly defended him, because she loved him so much. Billy tolerated it for a long time because she ad finally come home after being away at university for four years.

"It's a pity though, because now there are bad feelings between Rachel and her family. But there was nothing for it. When forced to choose between Paul and her father and brother, Paul won."

"No wonder Jacob thinks that Renesmee is against us," I say. "But I didn't pick up a hint of any of that in his thoughts last night. That may be because we didn't give her a choice in the matter."

"And he never mentioned it to us," she says. "But that doesn't mean that it still was and is not informing his choices."

"I still don't understand why we didn't see him this morning," says Esme. "I was waiting for him to come charging up to the house the whole time that we were packing."

"Last night we told him to stay away so that he could cool off," she replies. "Nobody wants a war with you. In fact, as I said earlier, there will be a lot of happy people when the news comes to the res back that you have left earlier than expected. And I doubt that Jacob will be able to convince his own pack to go up to the Yukon to get her, let alone Sam's."

"And there are some benefits for the rest of you as well once we are gone," I say.

"Yes, I knew that you would understand that," she says. "Esme, I for one will be glad when all of you are gone. With any luck, the packs will diminish in size and my Leah will be able to move away and start a new life."

"Why hasn't she?" asks Esme.

"It's not as easy as you think to break away," she replies. "The werewolves' first duty is to the protect the tribe. If the tribe no longer needs protecting, they can stand down, so to speak, and begin to live normal lives again.

"There are three married couples that have already produced five children between them, three of them boys. There is obviously the potential for more, even without factoring in Quil and Claire. That means that the line can continue easily. And that is not counting the ability of the other wolves that have not imprinted to reproduce. No one has imprinted since Jacob."

"And since the Volturi left," I add. "No new wolves have phased."

"This is also true," she agrees. "And those families whose heredity could pass along the gene are very grateful for that. No parent likes to see a child have to go through that ordeal. There is a tremendous loss of self in the pack mind. It may be efficient in battle, but it is hell to live with."

"I can imagine," replies Esme. "As vampires we prize our freedom and individuality. The only bond that really ties us to another is the bond of mates. That is why our large coven is so highly unusual. But it seems that an imprinted wolf is pulled in two directions, between his pack and his girl."

"He belongs to both," she says simply. "And normally there is no conflict. The case of Claire and Quil is highly unusual, but that is due to the large age difference. The case of Jacob and Renesmee is unheard of. No one knows for sure, but the assumption has always been that imprinting strengthens the bloodlines. But we cannot see how that will apply to Renesmee."

"What do you mean?" asks Esme, even though I am shaking my head to try to warn her not to ask.

"I am correct if I assume that vampire women cannot procreate, am I not?" she asks sanguinely.

"This is true," I say, not liking at all where she is headed with this.

"Then there is no way of knowing if Renesmee will be able to bear children when she reaches full maturity," Sue states.

Esme looks at me in shock. This is a serious violation of my daughter's privacy.

"We don't know that," she says slowly.

"That's a question for Carlisle," I say briskly. "He studied the female hybrids in Brazil in great depth. But since he is probably in the air right now, we cannot contact him by cell phone. Would that make a difference to the Council?"

"No, not really I'm sorry that I insulted you," she replies quickly. "But this is the kind of thing that we would like to consider when formulating our response to Jacob. I am afraid that breeding and bloodlines are much less of a private matter in our world."

"And they don't exist in our world," I reply tightly. "For obvious reasons."

"Please try and see this from our perspective," she begs. "Our tribe is engaged in fight for the survival of our culture, language, and traditions. For centuries, the white man has been trying to assimilate us into his culture. It is already difficult to prevent the encroachment of modern technologies and ideas into our small world.

"The other danger, however, is the idea of intermarriage with the dominant races. Once one of our children marries outside the tribe, unless it is to another Native American, we do not permit them to live in the village. The issue is more complex than biology. There is also a great deal of sociology involved.

"Jacob essentially knows all of this, but he is in denial. He has already accused us of prejudice against Renesmee because she is different. He also feels that there is the same prejudice on your side with regard to him."

"Look," says Esme, always the peacemaker. "We don't want this to end on a bad note. We are inviting Charlie to come up and visit anytime he likes at our expense. But things will be very strange for him. The children will all be high school, except Renesmee who will start in middle school. He is going to need you to help him navigate this 'weirdness' as he would call it."

"He certainly will," she replies drily as she thinks of what that might be like. "And as Charlie's wife I can assure you that I will support him in any way that I can to help him remain in contact with his daughter and granddaughter. Thank you for being as open with me as you have been. I will take this information back to the Council and it will help us make a decision about Jacob."

"But you will not prevent him from joining us," I say.

"No," she says firmly. "That is his choice. However I will warn you. His ties to his people are very strong through both his family and his genes. He may not be able to leave La Push very easily. As I have explained to you, there are many things that hold him here that are completely unrelated to Renesmee.

"It is ironic that the gene that created the compulsion to imprint on her in the first place, is the very same one that may separate him from her. This is going to be very painful for him."

"We understand that," says Esme, still miffed at the references to Renesmee's fertility. "But Jacob is a full grown man. He can take care of himself. Our only concern is for Renesmee. We will take care of her."

I can read in Sue's mind that she is thinking that Jacob doesn't accept this because he feels that it is _his_ job to protect and care for her. But she has less sympathy for Jacob than I expected. And what she hasn't said is that Billy is only too happy that we are moving away and taking Renesmee with us. It goes against the grain of any Quileute to want the tribe's blood "polluted" by vampire blood.

A great deal of idealistic rhetoric was spewed forth on both sides after the conflict with the Volturi. But that kind of idealism does not last forever. Especially when the alliance between enemies is based on the need to defeat a common enemy. Marriages of convenience rarely work once the common threat is gone. In day to day, living side by side, after a while, relations between our two groups have returned to their previous state, one of tense peace.

The only one of the Quileutes who will be negatively impacted by our departure is Jacob. I realize from Sue's mind his bloodlines are considered a tremendous asset to the tribe. She may be shrugging off his potential for leaving now, but that is more from annoyance with him than an actual willingness to let him go his own way.

And Jacob, as the progeny of two of the previous pack members, has a particularly strong pedigree for producing strong wolf offspring. They do not wish to see that potential compromised. Despite my own irritation with Jacob at the moment, I am beginning to feel sorry for him. It is one thing to be the proverbial "man without a country." But it is a whole other level of pain to be torn between two opposing and irreconcilable destinies.

When I was struggling with my feelings for Bella and my desire to keep her human, the options were not so gut wrenching. The one time that I had to face losing her completely, it nearly killed me. But once I had her back, I knew that I would never have to give her up again. Jacob may choose to join us, but it appears that the pull of his blood will never cease.

Now that we have made our peace with Sue, we go outside to face Charlie. I am amazed to discover that he is completely reconciled to the thought of our leaving. We will be able to leave both of them on good terms. This pleases me very much. Bella's face tells me that she is still very much saddened by this goodbye. But I will take care of her. And together, we will both care for Renesmee.

I turn at the sound of Esme's thoughts and give her a little smile. She will take care of the three of us. I am very glad that she was chosen to be our driver.

**Author's note: Some of the details about the Quileutes that I have included come from the books **_**Twilight History **_**and **_**The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide.**_


	14. Bereft

**A World Full of Strangers**

_Disclaimer: All the characters in the story are the property of Stephanie Meyer. I have borrowed them for my entertainment and (hopefully) your reading pleasure. I make no profit from their use._

**Sorry for the long wait between updates, but I have been having trouble accessing the section of the site where I can add chapters.**

**Chapter 14: Bereft**

"Jacob," says my Dad. "Sue is on the phone and she wants to talk to you."

"Yeah," I say, when I pick up the phone.

"Jake," she says. "I just wanted you to know that Bella, Edward, Esme, and Renesmee were just here to say goodbye to Charlie. They are driving up to Whitehorse now."

"What?" I shout. "How the hell did that happen?"

"Apparently they packed up everything overnight," she says calmly. "The others are flying up and will meet the van there."

"They're all gone? No one is left at the house?" I ask frantically.

"Jacob!" says my Dad. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"The Cullens left this morning with Renesmee," I say fuming. "Without even saying goodbye."

"Good riddance," he mutters as I glare at him.

"Sue, they can't do this," I say, as I turn back to the receiver.

"Actually, Jake, they can," she says. "Renesmee is their daughter. If they move away they have every right to take her with them."

"But I imprinted!" I reply, getting angrier by the minute. "She has to stay with me so that I can protect her. They know that!"

"Jacob, imprinting gives you no legal standing to claim custody of the child," she replies patiently. "Look, Charlie isn't exactly thrilled that they're gone, but he does understand. Things were getting too difficult for them here and they need to be settled before the school year begins. Most of their friends from school have already moved away and the Cullens have offered to fly us up for a visit anytime we want."

"Did they say anything about me?" I ask bitterly.

"They said that they have no objection to you moving up to the Yukon," she answers. "That is your choice if you wish to be near her."

"Which route are they taking?" I ask.

"They didn't exactly say," she replies "But Edward said that it was indirect. They want to give Renesmee time to adjust to the idea."

"Then why didn't they stay here longer? Why did they leave now?"

"Because they didn't want to risk any kind of altercation with the tribe over taking Renesmee with them," she explains. "They wanted to leave on good terms with us. And they were also afraid that you would say things that you might regret later. Considering how rude you are being to me now, I think that they made the right choice."

"Sue, you know I brought this issue to the Council last night," I say in frustration. "Why didn't you try to stop them?"

"Because that wasn't my place," she says sternly. "Just like it is not your place."

"Well, that's a matter of opinion," I say. "I want to meet with the Council again."

"Jacob, we need to meet as a group before we talk to you again," she says in measured tones. "Put your father back on the line. As our chief, he should make this decision."

"Sue wants to talk to you again," I say as I throw the phone at my Dad.

"Jacob, please don't do anything stupid!" he calls as I run out the door.

My anger is so great that I have to get away from the house and phase before I destroy something. The rage is good. It holds off the pain. Then I set up howls to further release the agony and to call my pack together. Within minutes, the five of us are standing around in the woods on two legs. We returned to human form because I don't want to show them everything in my mind, or see everything in theirs.

"They're gone," I say flatly.

"I know," says Seth. "I just talked to my Mom."

"Good riddance," says Embry.

"Thanks a lot, bro,'" I answer sarcastically. "Glad you got my back."

"Jacob, we all know how you feel about Renesmee," says Leah, at least trying to be sensitive. "But it's obvious that her family doesn't really understand us. And did you really think that Bella, Edward, and the others would just go away and leave her behind?"

"I expected this from Edward and Blondie," I say. "But I really didn't think that

Bella would betray me like this. If it hadn't been for my protection, Renesmee would never have been born."

"What makes you think that Bella is betraying you?" asks Embry. "Renesmee is her daughter. She almost, I mean she did, die giving birth to her. Don't you think that that might color her view on giving her up just a little bit?"

"Listen," I say. "After she knew I imprinted, yeah, she was mad. But she got over it. She even said that she was glad that I was in her daughter's life. It made us family."

"Well, yeah," says Quil. "All the Cullens welcomed us. And when Renesmee was a baby, it was easy to share her. But now that she's, uh, older, it does feel kind of weird. I mean she seems older than Claire but she's really three years younger."

"In a month she'll be full grown," I say. "I always thought that they understood that when she was full grown, that we would get married. But by now they're probably halfway to Whitehorse."

Leah rolls her eyes.

"I doubt that, how were they going?" she asks. "Are they flying?"

"Half of them were," I say. "But the other half, the half with Renesmee, said they were driving by an 'indirect route,' whatever that means."

"It probably means through Winnepeg and Saskatoon," says Embry. "Why are they driving?"

"They said to give Renesmee time to adjust to the idea," I say. "In other words, to poison her mind against me before I can catch up to them."

"Do really think that they would go that far?" asks Leah. "And besides, technically speaking they are not taking her away from you. If they wanted to, they just could have vanished, like they did eight years ago. But they told you where they were going. The way that they are looking at it, if you want to be with Renesmee, you have to go to them."

"I don't think that's what this is about," I say. "They are trying to keep us apart. But Renesmee loves me. And she knew what I was building up to. On her birthday I was going to ask her to marry me."

The other four stare at me with their mouths open. Finally Seth speaks

"You know Jake," he says uncomfortably. "It's not like I'm not on your side or anything, but Renesmee is still a kid. I mean, my Mom says that she still plays with dolls. And I don't think that she feels _that _way about you . . . not yet anyway."

"Well it's not like your Mom is exactly unbiased," I retort. "She just called to tell me that they came by to say goodbye to Charlie. And she sounded pretty darn happy about it."

"Yeah well on that score, I would say that Charlie wouldn't like the whole engagement thing so much either," replies Leah. "When I was over their house last week he said it was creepy the way that you were always hovering over her."

"That's just because he doesn't understand," I say.

"Yeah, but he doesn't want to understand," adds Seth. "When you phased in front of him, he told you that he didn't want to know anything else. If you tried to explain imprinting then he would probably freak out."

"Yeah, man," says Quil. "You know all the crap that I get from people who don't understand about me and Claire. But our people accept whatever the Elders tell them is okay. Charlie isn't like that and you know it. He had a hard enough time accepting the fact that Bella gave birth one month after she was married. Especially since she wasn't eight months pregnant when she got married."

"You guys aren't helping," I say, getting anxious.

"But you aren't listening," answers Leah. "It seems like the only one who doesn't get it here is you. I mean, even Quil gets it, right, Quil?"

"Kind of," he says reluctantly. "I mean, Jacob, Claire might have been a baby when I imprinted, but at least she is part-Quileute. And her Mom is Emily's sister, so it made it easier on them to let her go. But I suppose that if they hadn't let her move in with Emily and Sam, I would have had to move to the Makah res."

"So then you get what I'm talking about," I say.

"I'm with you up to a point," he replies. "I mean, I'm the only one standing here who can imagine the kind of pain that you're feeling now. It's just that it's not like you have any legal right to her. It's not like you can sue for custody or anything. Are you going to a judge to ask him to return the girl because you imprinted on her? They'll lock you up in the loony bin for sure."

"That's not what I was thinking of doing," I say ominously.

"And kidnapping across state lines is a federal crime," says Embry. "You know how fast they drive. They're probably in Montana by now. No speed limits, dude."

"You know Jake," says Seth. "I really love you, man. But I don't see what we can do without breaking the law."

"Yeah, right," I say. "Like the law even knows that she exists. She doesn't even have a birth certificate."

"I thought they had papers forged when they thought you were going to have to escape with her to get away from those Italian leeches?" asks Leah.

"They wouldn't do them any good now," I reply. "She wouldn't fit the age."

"You don't know that for sure," replies Quil. "And they must be using a passport to get her into Canada. How old did the papers say that she was?"

"I, um, never looked at them," I admit.

"Jacob," says Leah in frustration. "I'm not phasing until you figure this out, because you're going to drive me crazy. You should listen to yourself talk. You sound completely irrational."

"Yeah, man," says Embry. "I keep getting the feeling like you want us to go after her or something, but I just don't see it happening."

"Listen," I say. "Yesterday when they told me they were leaving, she was scared to death. And they wouldn't even let me be alone with her. In fact, they wouldn't even let her talk. Edward was supposedly interpreting her thoughts for her."

"What makes you think that he was lying?" asks Seth.

"He's done it before," I say.

"Not to me," replies Seth. "And don't you think that Renesmee would have said something if he was?"

"I told you," I say gritting my teeth. "He wouldn't let her talk."

"Seth, you talked to Mom," says Leah. "Did she say anything about Renesmee being scared when they said goodbye to Charlie?"

"No," says Seth. "She said that Bella and Renesmee were both sad, but that Bella was worse. They said goodbye to Charlie while Edward and Esme talked to Mom. They wanted to make sure that they left on good terms with us, the Quileutes, that is. You know, no bad blood or anything."

"Did they say anything about me?" I ask.

"They said that they didn't want you to say anything that you might regret later," says Seth. "That's why they left without saying goodbye."

"Anything else?" I ask.

"They wanted to know if you were free to come to the Yukon to join them," he says. "They were worried that the Elders might try to stop you. But she said that it would be fine with them."

"What exactly did she tell them?"

"That you were free to go anytime you wanted," he says reluctantly. "No one is ever forced to stay on the res. But Jacob, you're acting like this is all about you. It's not, it's about Renesmee and her whole family."

I am so mad that I run off to phase. The last comment I hear is Leah's.

"Oh, crap," she says. "Now I have to run all the way back to town on two legs."

But as I run off, I don't sense any of the others phasing, either. I guess that none of them want to be in my head now. I can't say that I blame them. Without thinking, I begin running east, but then I turn around. Embry was right. There is no way that I can catch them once you factor in the speed that they drive. And what would I do if I caught up to them? What would Renesmee think if I hurt any of them while I was getting her back?

So I decide to go with my next best option. There have got to be more wolves that will agree with me. I mean, Sam, Paul, and Jared have all imprinted, so they know what it's like. And I guess that I could go up to Whitehorse myself. I can't picture living there, but I bet that Renesmee will hate it, especially if I'm not there with her.

And if I convince her to come back to La Push with me, I don't see how they can stop her. After all, they're supposed to be all about free will and independence. But first I need to talk to the Council. I want to come back here on good terms with everyone. And, yeah, I was just kind of rude to Sue and my Dad. Okay, so the best thing for me to do I guess is to just go home. But I'm not giving up. I'm just thinking through my options.


	15. The Long Journey North

**A World Full of Strangers**

_Disclaimer: All the characters in the story are the property of Stephanie Meyer. I have borrowed them for my entertainment and (hopefully) your reading pleasure. I make no profit from their use._

**Chapter 15: The Journey North**

Esme drops Bella and I off in Grand Forks, North Dakota near the Red River so that we can cross the border on foot. Our plan is to follow the river northward towards Winnipeg in Manitoba. The drive across Washington, Idaho, Montana, has been completely uneventful.

The mountains of Washington, Idaho, and western Montana were stunning. But once we got past the Rockies, the landscape leveled out. Esme and I took turns driving so that Bella could sit in the back seat with Renesmee. We kept our stops very short, only gas and food for Renesmee. She hasn't been eating much. We considered making a hunting stop, but then decided that it was going to take us long enough to drive up without taking time for that.

Of course we are at a great advantage because we can drive at about one hundred fifty miles per hour twenty-four hours a day. By the time we were halfway through Montana, we realized that we were driving much farther east than we probably needed to. But we decided to stick with our original plan.

We heard from the others when they reached Whitehorse. They had found two condos to rent in the same complex, one for Alice, Jasper, Rosalie, and Emmett and the other for the rest of us. Carlisle and Rosalie were looking at houses. Things got a little interesting in Montana when she started texting us pictures of different options.

It was helpful to be able to focus Renesmee's mind on something other than leaving Jacob behind. She was very worried about him, so she was pleased when Rosalie sent us a picture of a large, sprawling house with seven bedrooms, and several large open rooms between. Nearby is a large outbuilding that we can renovate for the cars.

Also on the property, about a half mile from the house was a cozy looking cabin that had recently been refurbished as a rental space. As soon as Renesmee saw it, she immediately thought of Jacob. I did too, because the set up is nicer than Billy's place in La Push. Esme gave Carlisle the go ahead to purchase the house.

The transaction will be relatively simple. Since we are paying cash, there won't be a huge amount of bank paperwork. The present owner has been trying to sell it for over a year now and is only too happy to let it go so quickly. In the meantime, Carlisle has already been over to the hospital to establish his presence.

Emmett and Jasper are already excited about being up there. In addition to the bears, there are moose, stone sheep, and caribou. Unfortunately, it is not a habitat for big cats, but I consider that a minor problem. I can easily range south if I want. Emmett, of course, is dying to range north into polar bear territory, but Carlisle has convinced him to hold off. Polar bears are an endangered species, so we will have to hunt them carefully.

Alice is unhappy with the shopping options. Luckily, there is good Internet access, so she will be able to shop online. And Rose is just happy that Jacob hasn't shown up yet. She is looking forward to seeing Renesmee of course. Overall, it looks like Whitehorse has been a good choice.

The local people, including the mayor are very pleased to meet the family members who have come to town so far. Carlisle's medical skill alone is going to provide an immediate upgrade to the hospital facility. But when he saw some of what he considered basic diagnostic tools missing, he ordered them as a donation. He also went over to the high school with the other four to register them and us as freshmen and sophomores.

The school organization is different up there, so that grades one through seven are in the elementary schools and eight through twelve in the high school. One of the elementary schools and the high school offer French immersion classes. For a change of pace, the others decided to go the French immersion route. They have already begun listening to online French language classes to pick up the lingo.

Bella is going to have to take a very quick study when we get there since she never had any French, but since I already speak the language, it won't be a problem for. Renesmee finally began to show a bit of life when she discovered that she would be studying her lessons in French.

"That's good," she said. "Then it won't be so boring. It will be a challenge to learn a new language."

"Yes, and _in _a new language as well" said Esme. "And we can also practicing speaking at home."

"I know that Carlisle speaks French, Esme," commented Bella. "I didn't know that you did also."

"Oh, I don't," she replied playfully. "But it will give me something to do when I am not working on the house."

"And when my Jacob comes," added Renesmee. "He can learn too. Do wolves learn languages as quickly as vampires?"

"I don't know," I answered carefully. "I guess that we will find out if he comes up."

"I think that he will come up," she said confidently. "After all, he said that I was his life. He will see that we all want him when he sees his cabin. You will fix that up too, won't you, _Mom?"_

Esme nods slowly, but none of us had an answer for the rest of her assumption. Renesmee was so certain that Jacob would show up that we didn't have the heart to disappoint her. Of course, we haven't been helping. She had asked earlier if Jacob was in Whitehorse and Bella had answered, not yet, as vague an answer as one can give.

Undeterred, Renesmee decided that he must be traveling as a wolf rather than flying. She even went so far as to suggest that he might be shipping his belongings.

However, the truth is that if Jacob shows up in Whitehorse, it will be to try and convince Renesmee to return to La Push with him. I am even thinking that he may wait until her birthday (if he can), when he thinks that she will be full-grown. But it is difficult to consider her full grown when you look at her sleeping curled up, with her head in Bella's lap, and clutching her battered, old stuffed wolf pup.

Even when she is asleep, we don't talk about Jacob. When we were at a gas stop and Bella was taking care of a couple of Renesmee's human needs, Esme and I agreed that nothing the least bit negative should be said about him. And while we would avoid discouraging her from thinking that he was coming, neither would we encourage her.

"The most likely accusation that he will make against us is that we have turned her against him," I said. "It would be nice if he didn't show up until she was established at school and was making friends, but I don't want to count on that."

"You don't think that he would try to kidnap her?" asked Esme worried.

"That would be pretty stupid on his part," I replied. "The only place that he would take her is La Push and I doubt that we would have any trouble getting to Charlie to return her to us."

At that point, Bella and Renesmee returned from inside the service station and we changed the topic of conversation. Renesmee has been practicing calling Esme, Mom. But she couldn't bring herself to call Bella by her first name, so she has nicknamed her "Sissy," which is logical if Bella is her adopted sister. She has no problem calling me, Edward.

After we arrive, to further establish the parent-child relationship, Esme will take Renesmee to the elementary school to register her there. So far, we have had no questions about our own masquerade. No one has looked twice at them as they play their roles of mother and daughter. Bella and I pass easily as young teenagers in love. The problem with that charade is always acting too mature for our ages. This is all new to Bella, but I am doing my best to show her the ropes.

One of the problems that we will have to face is that our life in Forks was so secluded that Bella never really got a lot if practice behaving human or interacting with humans since she changed. In the past couple of years, she has even begun to behave even more "vampire-like" in her stillness and grace. She is going to need to fidget and slouch more to behave human.

Since she has never tasted human blood, she will probably have as few thirst control problems as Rosalie does sitting in a classroom full of students. Because she has always abstained, she won't feel the same compulsion as the rest of us, with the exception of Carlisle, do.

All of these things run quickly through my mind as I look fondly at my daughter. We are making the crossing at night in case Bella and I run into any humans. We don't want to risk the reflection of light off of our bodies.

"Goodbye, Renesmee," I say, as I give her a kiss.

"Goodbye, Daddy," she says. "Goodbye, Momma. I'm going to miss you until we get to Winnipeg."

"We will be together again before you know it," says Esme.

Bella is looking sad as we wave them off.

"We won't have any problems, will we Edward?" she asks.

"None at all, love," I answer. "Alice said that everything is going to be just fine."

"I know," she sighs. "But I'm still worried. I am going to worry until we are back in the car with Esme and Renesmee."

"Well, the sooner we start running," I reply. "The sooner that we will meet them."

With a little half-smile, she is jogging along side of me. Because we are still on the road, we are wearing running suits and shoes and trotting along at human speed. We can't really start to take off at vampire speed until we hit the wilderness. But to anyone driving by us, we look like a normal pair of joggers enjoying the good weather (even if it is three in the morning).

"I'm glad that the weather is good," I say. "It's not that rain would bother us, but if it were pouring, people might try to stop and help."

"That would be annoying, I guess," says Bella.

"Something tells me that you are not just worried about Renesmee," I comment. "Are you worried about Jacob?"

"Yes," she sighs, but doesn't say anything.

"This is one of those times when I really wish that I could read your thoughts," I remark. "Sometimes it's easier to express your feelings when you don't have to say the words out loud."

"Well, if you could read my thoughts," she answers. "Then you would see how mixed up I am and conflicted about Jacob."

"No offense, Bella," I say. "But ever since I have known you, you have been conflicted about Jacob. First, he wanted to be your boyfriend and now your son-in-law. But even you must be able to see how far he stepped over the line."

"Yes, I can see it," she says. "I'm not exactly sure of what he was thinking about when he said that Renesmee could live with Sam and Emily until she was ready to marry him. Can't he see how young she is?"

"He sees it," I reply. "But he doesn't see it the same way that you do. Remember back when he insisted on bringing Charlie back into your life so that we wouldn't leave Forks? That was all about him and his need to be near Renesmee. The one thing about the imprinting that is difficult for you to understand without actually being in his mind, is that he literally believes that she is not safe unless she is close to him."

"But we are her parents and she is surrounded by six other vampires who will love and protect her from anything," she says. "Doesn't he understand that?"

"Bella, he can't understand it," I explain. "It's not the way that his brain is wired anymore, so to speak. Now, what I really didn't understand was what his problem was with moving with us to the Yukon. While that wouldn't have made most of the family very happy, I do know that it would have made Renesmee happy. And he has always said that the imprinting was all about being whatever she needed him to be. But not _where_, I guess."

"You make it sound like a possibility that he won't do it," she says.

"I think that he will try," I respond. "But I don't think that it will work. When Esme and I were talking to Sue back at Charlie's, I learned a lot not only from what she said, but also from what she was thinking. And I don't think that what she was thinking was coincidental."

"You mean that she was giving you information that she wanted you to know without actually say it."

"Exactly," I reply. "Sue is a very tough lady. In fact, having had the opportunity at different times to read the other Council members' minds, I would say that she will be the one who is the most opposed to Jacob returning to La Push with Renesmee."

"Really?" she says in surprise.

"Sue couldn't wait to see the backs of all of us fast enough," I reply. "She wants her own kids to have a shot at better lives and getting away from all of the wolf pack stuff. She wants Leah to be able to break away, go off on her own, and live a happy life. She doesn't want Seth to imprint. she thinks that he is so easygoing that without the Cullens around to trigger the wolf gene, he will tame his emotions and stop phasing completely.

"And above all, she is practical. Seth finished high school with honors and has gone to college on a scholarship for Native Americans. She wants a better life for him than what he will get on the reservation. He's thinking about teaching math at the high school on the reservation rather than using his engineering degree to go out and have a real career."

"You're right," she agrees. "Sue is tough, so tough that she would rather her own kids not follow the traditional path of the tribe to live an easier life."

"Yes," I say. "But it's more than that. She would like to see the education upgraded on the reservation. She wants to improve he houses where people live and see the young people work at real careers rather than just live hand to mouth on the workmen's wages they get.

"And while she appreciates the culture and the legends, she doesn't like the fact that the environment they create is holding everyone back from larger participation in the modern world. I mean Billy's daughter Rachel has a degree in computer science. But when Paul imprinted on her, all she wanted to do was marry him.

"She tried to do some work from home, but then she had the babies and that was it. Sue understands, in away that the men do not, how the imprinting impacts the future opportunities for women also."

"What about Renesmee?" she asks me. "You would think that she would perceive her as an asset to the tribe with all of her education."

"She seemed to be looking for a way out of any situation that involved Renesmee living there," I say. "She began asking some very personal questions about Renesmee's, um, fertility. And of course, as a vampire-human hybrid, there is no way of knowing whether she can have children. None of Nahuel's sisters have children. But we don't even know if there was ever a possibility."

"At the moment, Renesmee has not reached a point where physically she could even get pregnant," she says. "But why should Sue care?"

"From what I could tell, she doesn't care," I reply. "But she wanted the information to bring to the Council. I suspect that they are looking for ways of telling Jacob that he shouldn't follow Renesmee, but if he does, he is in it alone, and he should stay wherever she is if he wants to be with her."

"But doesn't that still mean that his pack members are going to have to live with his pain in their heads?" she asks. "When Jacob disappeared after he found out that we were officially getting married, Seth told me that they could hear his thoughts even though he was all the way up in Northern Canada."

"One way they could escape it would be to rejoin Sam's pack," I reply. "But Leah won't want to do that. She joined Jacob's pack to get away from Sam."

"You know," says Bella. "Even though she is very bitter and angry, I have always felt sorry for her. First she lost a man who still loved her to her cousin who initially didn't want him. Then she had to live in his mind for a while and not just see, but also experience the love and devotion that he had for her. It hurt me to just look at Sam and Emily when you were gone and he wasn't even my old boyfriend."

"Yes," I reply. "The love between the imprinter and the imprinted is a sight to behold. I'm glad that I've only had limited contact with the others. It's bad enough dealing with Jacob's head and it's not just because he's fixated on my daughter. When you originally called it a moronic "wolfie claim," that summed it up as much as anything. But that is being pretty judgmental on my part. In some ways, I'm not much better."

"What do you mean?" she asks.

"Well, the first time I realized that I was really in love with you was after I saved you from Tyler's van," I say. "First it made me feel responsible for you and very protective. Then I couldn't stay away from you. And I did everything that I could to be near you. I hunted like crazy to satisfy my thirst and when I discovered that the more time I spent near you, the more I could tolerate your scent.

"But when I figured out that I loved you, that was it. There was no turning back. And then I did my best to prove my love and devotion to you. I was so jealous of Mike Newton that there were times when I came close to killing him, and not for his blood.

"And then, when you picked me over all those other boys, I was beside myself. You have no idea how overjoyed I was when you agreed to go to Seattle with me after you said no to your three suitors. I was the one that you said yes to. I don't know how I could have stood it if you wanted someone else."

"So then you really do understand what imprinting is all about," she says.

"It's not as powerful as what I feel for you," I say. "But it's pretty close. And I know that you feel the same way about me."

"I do," she says. "It wasn't until I was turned that I realized what you meant when you said that you loved me more than I love you. But we are equals now."

"Yes, we are," I say. "But another thing that Sue said was that for all intents and purposes, the fact that we are taking Renesmee away from him is essentially going to tear him in two."

"What do you mean?" she asks.

"Well, one of the reasons that he has never even considered leaving the reservation, was that he feels very tied to it by his blood," I say. "He is the great-grandson of the last official chief, and the son and grandson of those unofficial chiefs who followed. When I mentioned to her that while we talking to him that he was thinking that we were stupid because we didn't understand that Renesmee's future husband was going to be a chief, she was very surprised."

"I didn't realize that he was thinking that," she says.

"I didn't want to tell you because it was so obnoxious," I say. "But Sue says that Jacob has made no claim to the title. He is the Alpha of the second smaller pack and he has not been paying his dues, so to speak, to earn the position."

"But I thought that the position was based on birth?" she asked.

"Things have changed and apparently the tribe has much more of a say in who becomes chief," I explain. "And from the Council's perspective, Jacob just hasn't been spending enough time on the reservation, working for the tribe. But Sam has. From the Quileute perspective, Jacob has allowed his imprinting on Renesmee to interfere with his tribal duties."

"He told me that he was spending all of his time guarding her because that was his job," she says. "He told Renesmee that that's why he doesn't work."

"Well, the other four imprinted wolves all work outside their homes," I say. "Of course he might argue that all of their women live on the reservation. I always got the idea from him that she didn't really belong with us anymore, but never anything clear."

"This whole thing is getting on my nerves," she says. "Look we can turn off here to hit a wooded area that will lead us up to the border. Let's just get ourselves to Winnipeg so that we can be with Esme and Renesmee again."

I agree. We take the turn off and once we're out of human contact we are flying. The running is easy because we are out on the prairie, but since we don't know where there might be farmers or ranchers out, we decided to stick to the trees. The country looks cultivated but empty. We can tell that we have crossed the border when things begin to become more natural and untamed.

The open, dry space is a major change from the green mountains and wet climate of the peninsula. We are lucky that it is overcast and relatively darker than a fully moonlit night. It will make it even more difficult for the humans to detect us. As it is we drove across the northern plains we were decked out in hats, long sleeves, and sunglasses. It was good that we were able to drive straight through the night. It was much less stressful.

In a couple of hours, we arrive on the outskirts of Winnipeg at the agreed location. Renesmee is standing outside of the car waiting.

"We beat you!" she says happily.

"Any problems at the border?" I ask.

"None at all," replies Esme. "They hardly looked at our passports. And driving through at night meant that there was no line. It sure is desolate out here."

"Yes, it is," I agree. "Do you want me to drive now? I bet that I can make it to Saskatoon by morning."

"I bet that you can too," she says. "Be my guest."

As I turn onto the highway again, I feel myself relax. The most difficult part is behind us. We will drive through the northwest through the four provinces and then directly west along the Al-Can. I know that we will make excellent time across the prairies, but the Rockies will slow us down a bit.

But now that we are halfway there, I am beginning to feel the same sense of adventure that I have always gotten from moving around the North American continent for the past one hundred years. It's only now that I am out here in the vast Canadian grasslands that I realize how cooped up we had really been in Forks. I am not sorry that we will not return for another hundred years.

Renesmee has fallen asleep again, but before she dropped off, I could sense that there was a greater sense of peace in her mind. It is based completely on the fact that she is now certain beyond a reasonable doubt that Jacob will be waiting for her when she gets there. I hope that she isn't too disappointed when he doesn't show.

**End of Prelude**

_The next segment of the story will focus on the Cullens' entry and integration into their new community. How will Bella react to her second time through high school? How will Renesmee react to going to school for the first time? And what about Jacob? Will he follow them north to be with Renesmee?_

_The answers will be coming in the second installment of the story._


	16. Author's Note

**A World Full of Strangers: Prelude**

_Disclaimer: All the characters in the story are the property of Stephanie Meyer. I have borrowed them for my entertainment and (hopefully) your reading pleasure. I make no profit from their use._

**Chapter 16: Author's note:**

**To my wonderful readers:**

This is a note to those of you who have been following this story. The second story has just been posted under the title "A New World Full of Strangers" has now been posted as a new story. This is the main story that will actually talk about what happens with the Cullens in their new home.

The focus of the story is on the relationship between Renesmee and Jacob and the conflict that this causes, but since all of the Cullens will be living in this world full of strangers, no one will be neglected. There may even be a visit from Charlie and Sue! Thanks to all of my reviewers of the Prelude, you were very helpful to me in shaping that story. As they used to say in the old days, keep those cards and letters coming! I love your ideas.


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